


I can't keep my eyes off of you

by puppybusby



Category: Teen Wolf (TV)
Genre: Alternate Universe - College/University, F/F, ITS SO FLUFFY, Lydia and Allison are awkward dorks, POV Lydia Martin, Stiles is a dick occasionally though, but sssh
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-12-15
Updated: 2014-12-15
Packaged: 2018-03-01 16:17:29
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 22,688
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/2779628
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/puppybusby/pseuds/puppybusby
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>The thing about Allison, Lydia has noticed, is that she has a tendency to make Lydia fall even harder for her whenever something like this happens, the sudden, out of the blue admissions combined with the way she always looks so nervous until Lydia says something back.<br/>If Lydia has learnt anything at all, it's that nobody can't not love Allison Argent.<br/>Honestly.<br/>It may as well be scientific fact.</p><p>Or the time Lydia found a girl at a bus stop and fell in love</p>
            </blockquote>





	I can't keep my eyes off of you

**Author's Note:**

  * For [Cassicio](https://archiveofourown.org/users/Cassicio/gifts).



> Happy belated birthday Ryder!
> 
> Fic title from 'You and me' by lifehouse
> 
> This started out as a 5k idea... I got carried away

 

 

 

Lydia finally reaches the bus stop and sighs inwardly, she still has so much homework to do when she gets back to her apartment and all she really wants to do is get an early night.

And it looks like it's going to rain.

Lydia sighs again and shuffles inside of her jacket, casting a glance around at the other people at the bus stop with her, recognising a few from around campus.

And then there's _her._

And Lydia is aware that she's staring, so painfully aware but _holy shit_ she can't stop looking.

The girl looks to be around her own age, dark curls hidden underneath a grey beanie (which first of all, wow), a jawline that looks like it could cut glass. Her hands are shoved into the pockets of her leather jacket as she moves her head gently to the music playing through her white earbuds.

Lydia stares until the girl stops moving, pauses for a moment, and then turns her head towards Lydia.

Lydia snaps her gaze away so suddenly she's pretty sure she's just given herself whiplash. Biting down on her lips and staring at the floor and feeling her cheeks burn up.

Lydia counts to ten slowly and turns her head slowly, locking eyes briefly with the girl again.

Lydia fixes her eyes on the ground and wills it to open up beneath her and swallow her whole because now all she can do is feel the girl staring at her and holy shit how long is this bus going to take?

What feels like a small eternity to Lydia passes before she sees something being held towards her from the corner of her eye.

Lydia turns to see the girl still staring at her, a twix bar hanging delicately in her mouth, the packet offered out towards Lydia and she could the other bar just inside.

Lydia stared at the chocolate for a moment before looking up at the girl again, said girl raised an eyebrow, looking utterly adorable with the twix still hanging from her lips.

Lydia reached out to the packet, taking the twix apprehensively, glancing up at the girl to make sure it was okay.

She smiled and Lydia almost dropped the chocolate because _holy fucking shit_ she has dimples. Honest to God dimples.

Lydia turns away quickly again, biting into the twix and feeling her neck burning up under the girls gaze. Lydia chews slowly, forcing herself to stay calm.

"Allison" the girl says.

"I'm sorry?" Lydia turned back to her.

The girl smiled again and pointed to herself "Allison"

"Oh, oh! I'm Lydia"

Allison nods and bites into her twix "Lydia" she repeats, chewing thoughtfully, when she swallows Lydia can't help but watch the movement "So Lydia, do you go to school here?" She asked.

"I- yeah, yeah. Do you?" Lydia winced internally, smooth Lydia, smooth.

Allison grinned "Yeah! Just started last week"

"Freshman?"

Allison laughed and shook her head "No, no. I transferred. Haven't even finished unpacking my boxes yet" she scratches the side of her head, looking almost embarrassed by the admission "I'm a little lazy" she adds with a nervous sounding laugh.

Lydia watched Allison fidget, wondering what was making her so nervous and daring to hope that maybe _she_ was what was making this gorgeous girl flustered.

Allison managed to maintain eye contact better than Lydia could, but as soon as Allison asked Lydia about classes and what it was she studied, she was in the _zone_. She talked enthusiastically, found her hands gesturing a little wildly as she really got into her talk. Allison watched her as she talked, nodding along to everything she said, after a few minutes of talking Lydia began to worry that Allison was getting fed up of listening to her ramble and shut her mouth suddenly, cutting herself off mid sentence. Allison blinked at her, looking surprised by the sudden silence, her brow furrowed slightly.

"I- I'm sorry, this must be so boring to you, I-"

"No, no" Allison cut her off, a hand reaching out but not actually touching her "Don't stop, it's interesting, uh, you're interesting"

If Allison wanted to render Lydia utterly speechless, then that was one hell of a way to do it.

"You... I'm interesting?" Lydia managed.

"You're very interesting" Allison replied, smiling gently "I like hearing you speak"

Lydia is pretty sure she felt her brain short circuit right about then, she's both thankful and saddened by the bus that turned the corner. Lydia turned back to Allison, Allison's gaze pulled away from the bus and focused back onto Lydia.

"That's my bus" Lydia said a little regretfully.

"Oh" Allison actually looked sad "okay" she nods, reaching up to pull on her beanie "um... Okay... See you around campus? Hopefully?" Allison smiled "or here, here works and I-" she cut herself off again, ducking her head and laughing. The bus pulled up beside them and Allison peered up at Lydia through her curls, laughing warm and bright.

"Right, yes, yeah I better... Yeah" Lydia gestured lamely to the bus "yeah. I'll see you around"

Allison beamed at her and Lydia waved awkwrdly as she got onto the bus, finding an empty seat near the back and dropping down into it, Lydia busied herself with rummaging through her bag as other passengers get on. Just as the doors closed, Lydia looked up out of the window and found herself catching Allison's gaze once more.

Lydia smiled as the bus pulled away.

Twenty minutes later, she realised she was on the wrong bus.

 

* * *

 

 

"Lydia" Stiles whined, dropping a stack of books onto the table, startling poor Kira beside her "I need your help" 

"I'm doing homework Stiles" Lydia replied, not bothering to look up at him from her own work.

Stiles whined even louder, falling down into the seat opposite and half draping himself over the desk, pushing Lydia and Kira's work over the table.

"Stiles" Lydia sighed "I'm busy" honestly, she should have finished most of this work last night but her little detour had added an extra thirty minutes to her journey and by the time she had gotten home she was too distracted by thoughts of Allison to focus and had hardly done any work at all.

So here she was now, three coffees in and barely halfway through her paper.

"Lydia, I need your help" Stiles whined again, reaching over to steal her pen and forcing her attention onto him.

"Stiles! I need that" Lydia reached out for the pen.

"Why not ask Scott?" Kira asked.

"Because Kira," Stiles turned to face her and Lydia took advantage of the lapse in his concentration to steal her pen back "unless Scotty boy has learnt and become fluent in archaic Latin since I saw him two hours ago, he's not really going to be of much help to me"

"I'm not your personal translator Stiles"

"Lydia please" Stiles pouted "I need it for a paper"

Lydia stated at the boy for a few moments, she had known Stiles since they were kids, Stiles was bad at hiding things too which made him entirely too easy to read

"A paper and what?" Lydia asked.

Stiles sighed heavily "And there's a really hot girl in my class and I want to impress her, are you happy now?"

Kira and Lydia shared a smile "very" Lydia nodded.

"So, hot girl?" Kira leant forward in her seat "what's her name? What does she look like-"

Stiles held a hand up "I don't know her name, yet and out of fear of getting my hopes up I'm not going to divulge any more information until I know I have a chance" he pushes one of the books towards Lydia "help an old friend get laid?"

Lydia sighed, dropping her head "fine. Fine" she grabbed the book "what am I translating?"

Stiles beamed "chapter three, it's supposedly about a knight and their army slaying a dragon"

"Your paper is on dragons?" Kira frowned.

"You're going to hit on the hot girl with dragons?" Lydia asked.

Stiles shrugged "perks of being in a mythology class" he moves to get up "besides, bitches love dragons"

Lydia closed the book with a resonating slam "okay, first of all, don't call a girl a bitch or you won't live to get laid"

Stiles held his hands up in surrender before Kira could join in "I'm sorry! Shit, I'm sorry" 

"You better be" Lydia replied, she looked down at the book once more "when do you need it translated?"

"The sooner the better? My paper isn't due for like three weeks but I really want to talk to this girl"

"What's she writing her paper on?" Kira asked.

"Werewolves, I think, she doesn't talk much, she sat alone"

"Then invite her to sit with you, try being her friend first?" Lydia suggested.

"But-"

"I'm translating your books for you Stilinski, talk to the girl before you try to seduce her with dragons"

Stiles looked ready to protest but Lydia just folded her arms across her chest and stared him down until he backed off "Fine, I'll ask to sit with her next class, deal?"

"Perfect" Lydia smiled "and then we need to see this hot mythology girl"

"Definitely" Kira agreed.

"Whatever you want Lydia" Stiles sighed, he pulled out his phone "Shit, I gotta go, see you guys tomorrow?"

Lydia and Kira watched him go and began to laugh.

"I really want to crash his classes now, I need to know who this girl is" Kira said thoughtfully.

"Just ask Scott, Stiles tells him everything" Lydia shrugged, she glanced at the time on her own phone.

"Somewhere to be?" 

Lydia began to shove her stuff into her bag "yeah, I gotta head back home, I left some notes and I can't finish my own paper without it"

Kira furrowed her brow at Lydia, clearly wanting to ask more but deciding better of it .

"Okay" she replied eventually "See you for lunch tomorrow?"

Lydia smiled "of course"

 

Lydia knew it was stupid to hope to see Allison at the bus stop, she had no idea what the girls schedule was like, Lydia actually couldn't believe that she was resorting to hoping to cross paths with Allison.

Her cautious optimism paid off however, when she saw the familiar figure, beanie-less today but still wearing that leather jacket in what was essentially the same spot as the day before.

Allison lifted her head as Lydia got closer and a smile stretched out over her lips

"Lydia! Hey, I didn't think I'd see you so soon"

"Hey" Lydia greeted "how are you?"

Allison sighed "I'm tired, you didn't tell me the coffee in the cafeteria was like drinking mud" she made a face and shuddered.

"You never asked!" Lydia replied "I mean the food is fine, but don't touch the coffee"

Allison groaned and threw her head back "I need my coffee though"

Lydia laughed at the brunette "Well, there's a coffee shop not too far from campus. It's no Starbucks but it has free WiFi and the brownies are incredible"

"I'm sold" Allison replied immediately "I need caffeine from somewhere and I sure as hell can't make it on my own"

They slip into easy conversation after that, Lydia giving Allison the directions to the coffee shop and warning her about Derek, the owner ("just don't expect a smile") Allison pulled out a packet of twizlers from her bag and she shared them with Lydia as they talked about music, books, films. Lydia was completely in awe as she listened to Allison speak, Lydia tried to remember all of the music Allison talked about, she spoke with such enthusiasm Lydia found herself hanging on every word, watching as Allison's eyes brightened as she got even more into her stories.

"You're from France?" Lydia asked.

"Oui" Allison winked "moved to the states when I was eight though"

Lydia gaped, she had known Allison's surname was French, but Lydia had just assumed her ancestors originated there, not that the girl was _actually_ French.

"Are you fluent?"

Allison laughed again, scratching the side of her head "yeah"

Allison officially just became ten times more attractive. Thoughts of Allison whispering French into her ear filled Lydia's mind until Allison's face fell and Lydia was momentarily horrified, thinking she had made a face while lost in her thoughts.

"Your bus is here" Allison said.

Lydia followed her gaze to the bus just rounding the corner and laughed nervously, she turned back to Allison.

"...Yeah, about that..." Lydia began "That's kinda... _Not_ my bus"

Allison's eyebrows shot up "What?"

Now it was Lydia's turn to scratch her neck awkwardly "I... kind of got on the wrong bus yesterday?"

Allison gave a surprised laugh "what? Why?"

Lydia watched the bus pull up and a small handful of people began to get on

"I may have been distracted?" 

"Distracted? By what?" Allison asked.

Lydia kept her eyes on the bus as it's doors closed.

"By you" she replied quickly.

"I'm sorry, what?" Allison asked, her head cocked to one side.

Lydia bit her lip "by you" she repeated .

"Oh"

"Yeah"

"A good distracted though?" Allison asked "you weren't like... Confused and frightened by the strange girl offering you chocolate?"

Lydia laughed, feeling herself relax "yeah, it was a good distracted"

Allison grinned and offered Lydia the last twizzler.

"Good" Allison replied, she narrowed her eyes slightly "so which bus _do_ you get?"

Lydia looked at the bus just rounding the corner and spent an extra few seconds making sure it was actually the right bus this time.

"That one" 

Allison raised an eyebrow "you're sure?"

Lydia rolled her eyes "yes, I'm sure" she frowned at Allison's expression "what?"

Allison was silent until the bus pulled up beside them and then she grinned suddenly.

"Well, we better hurry, wouldn't want to miss our bus"

Lydia froze "...Did you just say _our bus_?"

 

* * *

 

 

_From: Stiles  
_ _I'm sat next to hot mythology girl, don't say I don't try_

_To: Stiles  
_ _Good start, will you tell us her name yet?_

_From: Stiles  
_ _So you and Kira can stalk her on every social network? Nice try Lydia_

_To: Stiles  
_ _Worth a try, coffee later? I'm almost done with your translation_

_From: Stiles  
_ _Definitely. You're a Godsend Lyds_

  
"So?" Kira asked.

"He's not giving us any details" Lydia replied with a frown, setting her phone down onto the table beside her books. 

Kira hummed thoughtfully and Lydia could feel the girls eyes on her as she continued to work.

"Is everything okay? You've seemed kind of... Distracted, all week"

Lydia glanced up at Kira and smiled "I... May have met someone"

Kira made a sound which Lydia could only describe as a squeal, it was loud enough to draw the attention of the group of students on the next table. Kira grabbed Lydia's hand.

"Who are they? What are their pronouns? Do they go here? What do they study-"

Lydia reached over to cover Kira's mouth with her hand.

"Okay you need to stop" Lydia replied.

Kira pulled Lydia's hand away "Tell me everything"

Lydia sighed and feigned annoyance at her friend "Girl, her name is Allison, and yes, she goes here"

"What does she look like?"

"She's tall, dark hair, brown eyes... Dimples" Lydia trailed off.

"Oh my God not dimples" Kira's eyes widened "Have you asked her out yet?"

Lydia sighed "I haven't seen her for nearly a week, I've only seen her at the bus stop"

"We need to fix this Lydia, you haven't been on a date in forever"

"I don't even know if she's interested in girls!" Lydia protested.

"Then find out! Come on Lydia, Stiles has this hot mythology girl, I have Scott, you need to get this Allison girl!"

"Speaking of Scott..." Lydia began, gesturing to where the boy was approaching them

 

"I don't get why Derek always gives me the biggest cup possible, I end up all twitchy from caffeine" Stiles frowned as he eyed his cup.

"Because he likes you, idiot" Lydia mumbled from behind her own drink "he's trying to flirt"

"How is this flirting?" Stiles gestured to the cup and then glanced over to Derek as the man wiped down the counter.

"I don't know Mr 'seduces girls with dragons'" Lydia replied with a smirk.

"Have you asked her out yet?" Scott asked.

"Can you tell us her name?" Kira pouted.

Stiles leant back in his chair and sighed "no, I haven't asked her out yet, she seemed... Distracted all through class"

Lydia rummaged through her bag and pulled out Stiles' book, now complete with translation, and pushed it across the table.

"Maybe this will help"

Stiles grinned and made a move to grab it, Lydia pulled it back at the last second and held a finger up.

"But, you have to tell us her name"

Stiles groaned "FINE! Fine, her name is-" his eyes darted towards the door "Allison!"

Lydia's eyebrows shot up "Allison?!" She followed his gaze to the approaching figure.

"Lydia!" Allison greeted with a wide smile.

"Lydia?" Stiles frowned, looking between the two girls "You two know each other?"

"We met at the bus stop last week" Allison explained, Kira gasped quietly beside her "How are you? It feels like it's been forever since I saw you" Allison says, attention focused solely on Lydia.

"I'm good, school's been keeping me busy y'know?" 

Allison nods sympathetically and looks around at the rest of the table and giving them an awkward half wave.

"Do you want to sit with us?" Lydia asked, gesturing to the empty seat.

Allison beamed again "Sure-"

"Can I buy you a coffee?" Stiles asked.

Allison hesitated and looked over to the counter "No thanks" she replied "I've got it"

She smiles at Lydia one more time before she wonders over to where Derek is rearranging the baked goods. Lydia watches her go, eyes drifting down to Allison's ass .

Kira clears her throat pointedly "So... That's Allison..." She says, as Lydia meets her gaze. Kira slowly looks over to Stiles "Hot mythology girl"

Lydia sank back into her own seat and resisted the urge to cover her face with her hands.

"She seems nice?" Scott says, eyes trained on Stiles .

Allison returns a few minutes later, setting her mug and a plate down on the table and sitting down in the seat opposite Scott and Kira.

Right between Lydia and Stiles.

Allison picks up one of the brownies from the plate and pushes it towards Lydia, Lydia stares down at the lone brownie and back up at Allison, who shrugs.

"You said the brownies were good, so I figured you liked them"

"I- thank you" 

Allison grinned and bit into her own brownie, making a sound that made Lydia's breath catch in her throat.

"So you're in Stiles' mythology class?" Scott asks "How is that?"

"It's good" Allison nods slowly "It's really interesting"

"What are you writing your paper on?" Stiles asked.

"Werewolves" Allison replied, she turns to Lydia "Remember how I'm from France? Well, my family are apparently really into that, I have a stack of French books on werewolf mythology"

"Werewolves are awesome" Stiles chimed in.

"You're from France?" Scott asked "Where?"

Allison smiles sheepishly "A city called Reims, it's... Kind of north-ish to Paris"

  
It carried on more or less like that for the next hour, Lydia wasn't really sure how to react to it all.

With Kira's inquisitive nature, she had no problems getting all of the details from Allison about her life, details about her childhood, how Allison moved around a lot once they moved away from her home town. Lydia found out that Allison practice's archery in her spare time and that she used to study gymnastics until she stopped to focus more on school. 

Allison also explained that she had gone to college in New York, but when her parents decided to move back home, Allison opted to stay and move across the country to settle down in not so sunny northern California.

It was a little heartbreaking if Lydia spent more than a minute thinking about it, Allison hadn't mentioned any friends or anybody outside of her family and even Stiles had mentioned that Allison had been sat alone in class until Stiles had sat with her today.

Speaking of Stiles...

Lydia glanced over to the boy, thankful his attention was fixed firmly on Allison, while she was relieved that she wasn't the only one to be in awe of Allison, she couldn't help but feel sorry for the boy.

It wasn't that Allison was ignoring Stiles, not in the slightest, but he just couldn't seem to hold her attention for very long, not even his newly translated dragon story was enough to keep a conversation going with Allison for longer than five minutes. She would almost immediately turn back towards Lydia and ask about her childhood

"Another drink, guys?" Stiles asked, gesturing to the empty mugs, already getting to his feet.

"I actually better get going" Allison replied, looking a little apologetic "I have a presentation due tomorrow for my psych class"

"Damn, another time? Apparently there's a party next week, this rich jackass has actually gone ahead and had his father rent out an entire club for his birthday" Stiles explained.

"Don't you need an invite?" Allison frowned.

Stiles waved a hand "We have connections, it'll be fine, you wanna go?"

Allison pulled her lip between her teeth, clearly hesitant. She looked to Lydia.

"Are you going?" She asked.

Honestly, Lydia hadn't really been planning on it, that 'jackass' had been her boyfriend back in high school, they _had_ parted on more or less amicable terms, she had seen him for the douchebag he really was, he hadn't really cared and had gone on to date his best friend and they always managed to be civil, even friendly together whenever they crossed paths (she thinks that's completely down to Danny though)

But she still hadn't been planning on going.

But Allison was looking at her and- fuck, are those puppy dog eyes?

"Sure" Lydia replied "yeah, I'll go"

Allison's entire face lit up and Jesus, it was like looking at the fucking sun.

"Awesome, awesome, yeah. Yes I'll go" Allison grinned, looking to Stiles.

Stiles clapped his hands together "Great! Okay... I'll send you the details on Facebook or something?" 

Allison smiled and nodded "Great, thank you"

Stiles tried to grab all of the mugs to take them to the counter, only to have Scott intervene and help. Lydia watched the two boys head over and turned back to Allison

Allison was already watching her, eyes flickering to where Kira was sat.

"So it was nice to run into you today" Allison said, reaching down to grab her bag and stood up.

"Yeah" Lydia smiled "yeah it was"

"Oh! I have something for you!" Allison clicked her fingers and unzipped her bag to rummage through it.

Lydia could see Kira watching them both and consciously tried to ignore her

Allison pulled out a square object and held it out to Lydia, Lydia took it, her fingers brushing against Allison's in the process.

"It's a mix CD" Allison laughed nervously, rubbing at the back of her neck with her hand, "you mentioned wanting to check out some of the stuff I was talking about but I thought that maybe you'd find it easier if I just gave you some of the music? I don't know, it's a little lame but... Yeah" Alison trailed off.

Lydia looked at the blank case in her hand and back up to Allison who looked incredibly nervous by the science stretching between them.

"Allison... Thank you, that's so thoughtful"

"I mean, it's not much but-"

"I love it, really, thank into Lydia reached up to put a steadying hand on Allison's arm and Lydia kind of wished she was standing up, that way at least, she could hug Allison and not have it end awkwardly.

Allison stares at Lydia's hand for a moment before that smile is back, dimples and all

"Good, okay" Allison nodded quickly "okay, I'm gonna go..." Allison began to walk backwards "See you soon? Hopefully?"

"I'd like that"

"Awesome," Allison nodded "awesome... So I'll see you soon, Lydia" 

Allison kept walking backwards and Lydia wondered if she should maybe point out the chair Allison was about to walk into. Before Lydia could open her mouth, Allison walked into the chair, barely catching herself as she flew backwards, hand scrambling to grab onto the edge of the table.

Allison reminded Lydia of Bambi on ice as she tried to stand up, laughing to herself as she picked the chair up and nudged it back into place.

"Okay, ow" Allison mumbled, she smiled sheepishly back in Lydia's direction and waved before walking to the door. Allison looked at Lydia one more time as she passed the window.

  
"That was.... An unexpected turn of events" Kira said after a few moments of silence

Lydia groaned and looked at the CD in her hand, Kira reached over and bumped their shoulders together .

"At least it definitely seems like she likes you! She could barely take her eyes off of you the entire time"

Lydia slipped the CD into her bag and looked over to where Stiles was counting out money for an intense looking Derek.

"Yeah, but did you see Stiles? He was looking at her like she created the sun" Lydia frowned.

Kira laughed "I'm pretty sure we were all looking at her like that, that girl is literal sunshine" the girls face grew serious "okay but seriously, if Stiles doesn't get the idea that Allison isn't interested based solely on this entire ordeal, then I'm seriously going to question how he got into college"

Scott and Stiles returned and set fresh mugs down onto the table, Scott slid into place beside Kira.

"If you'll excuse me ladies and Scott, I need to use the little boys room" Stiles clapped his hands together.

Kira waited until he disappeared into the bathroom and turned to Scott, but he beat her to it.

"So Allison seems nice" he says.

"Very" Kira agreed.

"She and Stiles would make a cute couple"

Lydia tenses and shares a look with Kira and busies herself with her coffee.

"I'm sorry, what now?" Kira asked "were we watching the same interactions? Allison barely looked at him"

"Yeah but she's just playing hard to get" Scott shrugged.

Lydia snapped her head towards Scott and watched how Kira gaped at him, Scott blinked at them both and Lydia can see the worry find its way onto his face.

"...Is she not playing hard to get?" He asked quietly.

"Scott," Kira sighed "Who did Allison spend the most time looking at?"

"Um... Lydia?"

"And who did Allison talk to the most?"

"Well, I mean she talked to us all but- the answer is Lydia isn't it?"

"Yes Scott."

"Allison doesn't like Stiles."

"No."

Scott looks at Lydia and she meets his gaze apprehensively "She likes you/"

"I mean we don't know for sure if she _definitely_ likes me-"

"She gave you a mix CD Lydia, she's smitten"

"Oh damn" Scott made a face "yeah she likes you. Do you like her?"

Lydia nodded "But Stiles..."

Scott smiles softly "We'll figure something out, let Stiles down easily you know?"

 

Lydia let out a relieved sigh and sat back in her seat, scanning quickly over her now finished paper. She knew it was _at least_ an A.

Lydia selected print, as she heard the machine come to life her eyes fell on the CD Allison had given her and shrugged, reaching out to open it and placed the CD into her laptop.

Lydia found that Allison had even gone to the trouble to write a track list on a scrap of paper and tucked it into the cover of case.

By the third song Lydia was in love with Allison's music taste, after a quick scan of the list showed that Lydia only knew one artist and that was only because of Kira's love for Metric.

Lydia grabbed her laptop and walked over to her bed, falling onto it and opening Facebook, freezing momentarily at the new friend request. Lydia held her breath as she moved her mouse over to the icon and clicked.

_Allison Argent would like to be your friend_

Lydia clicked accept so fast and with so much force she had to double check that she hadn't broken the button. Lydia then proceeded to shamelessly stalk her profile.

Lydia found there wasn't much, the girl only had just over a hundred friends and her posts consisted mostly of links to various music videos.

Lydia groaned at Allison's lack of disclosing her orientation but finds herself grinning at the confirmation that Allison is definitely single.

Lydia's eyes moved away from Allison's profile picture, dimpled smile and shining brown eyes staring back at her, to the modification over the messages and clicked on it.

_  
Allison Argent: Managed to get the right bus home then?_

  
Lydia laughed and pulled the laptop closer and began to type .

_  
Lydia Martin: I did. Did you assault any more unsuspecting chairs?_

_Allison Argent: just the one I'm afraid. I didn't want to develop a reputation ;)_

_Lydia Martin: yeah, sorry but you're officially the girl who tripped over a chair_

_Allison Argent: Okay, okay.... Bus girl_

_Lydia Martin: Allison!_

_Allison Argent: Ha, sorry_

  
Lydia adjusted herself on the bed, pulling the laptop up onto her lap. It was considerably easier to talk to Allison like this, she wasn't nearly as flustered as she normally found herself when faced with Allison.

Even if she does already miss that stupidly perfect face.

_Allison Argent: So... You're friends are nice_

_Lydia Martin: You think so?_

_Allison Argent: Yeah! They're good, Kira is funny, Scott is sweet and Stiles is nice enough_

Lydia stares at the screen, 'nice enough' isn't really a sign of a romantic interest on Allison's part, it isn't even a very encouraging sign that Allison even likes the poor boy.

But good news for Lydia, right?

_Lydia Martin: Well, you're welcome to hang out with us whenever you want. We're generally always around_

_Allison Agent: Yeah, I'd like that_

_Lydia Martin: So I'm listening to that CD_

_Allison Argent: You are?_

_Lydia Martin: Yeah_

_Allison Argent: ....What's the verdict?_

_Lydia Martin: Safe to say I'm in love with Metric and Lykke Li_

_Allison Argent: Yes! Good, do you want some albums?_

 

It was completely dark out when Lydia woke up, laptop hanging precariously close to the edge of the bed. Lydia sat up, rubbing the sleep from her eyes with one hand and reaching for the laptop with the other. 

"Holy shit" Lydia breathed upon seeing the time, it was after three in the morning and holy shit, it was just past midnight the last Lydia remembered. Her conversation with Allison was still open and Lydia found herself smiling as she scrolled over the last few messages.

_  
Allison Argent: I need to read this book_

_Allison Argent: if I cry, I blame it entirely on you_

_Allison Argent: ...Lydia?_

_Allison Argent: You've fallen asleep haven't you?_

_Allison Argent: I'm choosing to believe that you fell asleep_

_Allison Argent: okay I'm gonna go and sleep before I say something embarrassing and have it out there on Facebook for you to just... Screenshot and hold against me forever_

_Allison Argent: Okay, definite sleep time now. I'll see you soon? I hope you sleep well_

  
Lydia read over the messages at least half a dozen times. She thinks over them as she brushes her teeth and sets about removing what remains of her now smudged make-up. Lydia still can't believe she spent over seven hours talking to Allison, she couldn't even tolerate _Scott_ for that long.

And yet she had spent over an hour sending YouTube videos back and forth.

Lydia carried her laptop back over to her desk and looked over the messages.

Allison would be asleep by now, her last message had been sent over an hour ago. Lydia shrugged, feeling emboldened by being behind a laptop and began to type.

_Lydia Martin: Hopefully sooner rather than later? I enjoyed tonight. Goodnight Allison_

 

* * *

 

 

Lydia was late.

Holy shit she was going to be late.

Stupid useless alarm clock.

She hadn't even had time to eat.

Lydia could at least be thankful she had managed to get on the bus before it had the chance to close it's doors.

But holy shit it's been a long time since Lydia has been on a bus this busy, she can barely move and can already tell that there isn't going to be a seat free

To make matters worse, there's no way she can reach any of the handrails. The most she can hope for is for the driver to not be a total maniac

"Lydia!" She hears a voice call

Lydia looks around, feeling her heart skip as the voice registers in her mind and Lydia realises she hadn't even had a chance to check her Facebook this morning.

Allison pushes her way through the crowd and once more Lydia is faced with bright brown eyes and her lands jacket (Lydia is only vaguely aware that she has yet to see Allison without her jacket)

"Lydia, hey"

"Hey" Lydia greeted, stumbling only slightly when the bus turns, Allison barely wobbles as she holds onto the handrail.

"Are you okay?" Allison frowned.

"My alarm didn't go off" Lydia sighed.

Allison winced "ouch, are you late?"

Lydia shook her head "I don't know, at this point I don't care, I just want to turn my paper in"

Allison laughed "I feel that"

Lydia smiled up at Allison and of course that would be the moment the driver chose to slam the brakes, sending Lydia flying forward.

Directly into Allison's chest.

Lydia had lifted her hands to try and brace her fall, only to now have them pressed against Allison's stomach, Allison wrapped her free arm around Lydia's shoulders to steady her and Lydia was pretty sure if she can feel abs underneath Allison's shirt and that mental image alone was enough to make Lydia freeze.

"Shit, Lydia, are you okay?" Allison pulled her head back enough to see Lydia but made no attempt to move Lydia away.

"I just got caught by the girl who tripped over an immobile chair" Lydia mumbled, trying to figure out the best way to move her hands without making the situation any more awkward.

"You're welcome" Allison laughed, her head dipping towards Lydia

Lydia managed to move her hands and settled for holding onto the edges of Allison's jacket.

"Thank you" Lydia replied seriously "you just saved me from a world of embarrassment"

Allison laughed again "So, should I let you go? Or are you going to fall again?"

Lydia opened her mouth to respond that no, Allison, really shouldn't let her go because Lydia can feel her heartbeat hammering through her chest, can smell the sweetness of her perfume but Allison's arm is moving away from her shoulders and that is not what Lydia wants at all.

The bus took a sharp turn and Lydia is pretty sure that's all the answer Allison needed as Lydia felt Allison's arm fit more securely around her.

"On second thought, with this driver it's probably safer if I hold on... You don't mind, do you?"

"I... Can't reach the handrail" Lydia admitted "I don't mind"

Allison laughed again "Well, okay then"

Honestly, it was worth being late to class.

 

"Oh my God, are you serious?" Kira gaped "oh my God Lydia this is like a rom-com, this is amazing. Did you get her number? Please tell me you've exchanged numbers"

Lydia hesitated for a few moments "Uhhh...."

Kira gasped "Lydia Martin, tell me you have her number"

"I mean... It was a little hard to focus with the whole 'face pressed against general chest area' thing so I think I can be forgiven"

Kira gave Lydia an unimpressed look and glanced over to where Stiles and Scott were walking towards them.

"Fine, fine. But you better ask her for it the next time"

Lydia sighed .

"And don't you dare say that she doesn't like you"

"But what about Stiles?"

Kira waved a hand "Scott is dealing with that, well, he's trying, Stiles... Is pretty taken with her" Kira leant in close and dropped her voice as the boys began to get closer "he's been trying to learn to dance so he doesn't immediately embarrass himself"

"He's going to dance with her?!" Lydia exclaimed.

" _Ask_ to dance with her. He does seem to think this is a maybe date..."

"But, how?"

Kira shrugged "Boys"

Lydia sighed "Boys"

"What?" Stiles frowned as he finally reached them.

"Never you mind" Kira pat his shoulder slowly.

"...Riiight" he drawled, frowning before turning to Lydia "So, Jackson's party?"

"We can go, I'm meeting Danny at like six tomorrow to get our tickets" Lydia replied

"Six as in six in the morning?" Scott asked.

"Yeah, something about a cross country meet and it'll probably be the last chance to see Danny before the party"

"You're a godsend Lydia" Stiles beamed.

"I know"

 

* * *

 

 

"Lydia" Danny greeted warmly "how are you?"

Lydia smiled up at the boy and leant into the hug he initiated.

"I'm good thank you, how are you? How's Jackson?" She asked.

She followed him to a table, coffee firmly in hand and sat across from him.

"Tired, we've got an eight hour drive ahead of us"

"Holy shit, Danny why would you put yourself through that?"

"Sweaty, muscular men"

"Right" Lydia nodded, sipping her coffee slowly "That makes sense"

Danny winked and reached into his jacket pocket and pulled out an envelope and pushed it across the table.

"Five tickets, just like you asked"

"You're the actual best"

"So who's number five?" Danny asked.

Lydia looked up from her bag "what?

" You, Stiles, Scott and Kira. You asked for five tickets, who are they?"

"New girl, Allison"

"You or Stiles?"

Lydia laughed "Well actually... Both of us, technically.."

Danny frowned "Explain"

"Okay so I met Allison at the bus stop and Stiles saw her in his mythology class and he's completely smitten with her and so am I and Kira thinks she's into me because Allison basically ignored Stiles and talked to me the entire time and then we talked for hours on Facebook and then yesterday she stopped me from falling on the bus and held me close for the entire journey and Stiles invited her to Jackson's party and he wants to dance with her but she asked me if I was going before she said yes and I think Kira is right and Allison likes me but Stiles likes her" Lydia cut herself off and stared at Danny's slightly alarmed expression.

He reached over and covered her hand with his own.

"Annnnnnd breathe" 

"Sorry" Lydia sighed "suggestions?"

"Okay. You're hotter than Stiles and you're twenty years old. Who cares about if Stiles likes her too? He's a grown ass man. He'll get over it" Danny shrugged "Sounds like she likes you more anyway"

Lydia laughed "Thank you"

"I expect to meet this girl at Jackson's party, and to see you dance with her"

"Deal"

 

Lydia could literally _feel_ herself falling asleep, it was barely past three yet no amount of caffeine had managed to keep her awake.

She just had to wait for Kira to finish class so Lydia could give her the tickets for herself and Scott (And Stiles' while she was at it, Scott sees him more than she does after all)

But she was so fucking tired.

"Lydia, hey" 

Lydia looked up from her book at Allison.

"Hey"

Allison gestured to the empty seat beside her "Can I?"

"Yes, yeah! Of course" Lydia pulled her bag across the desk.

Allison smiled and sat down beside her, pulling a book from her bag, though she made no immediate move to open it, instead, she rested one arm on the back of the chair and twisted to face Lydia.

"Are you okay?" She asked, concern evident in her voice.

Lydia went to reply but yawned, Allison's lips turned in amusement and Lydia held up a hand.

"I'm fine, just tired"

"Late night?"

"Early morning" Lydia replied "I was up at four"

"Four!? Lydia, why?" Allison asked, shocked.

"Because I had to meet Danny at six so I had to add time to get ready and make sure I didn't look like crap"

Allison laughed "I refuse to except that you ever look anything short of perfect"

"You've never seen me first thing on a morning" Lydia replied.

Allison's eyes widened and Lydia felt herself blush as she registered what she had said. The silence stretched on between them for several moments until Lydia finally cleared her throat and pulled her gaze away from Allison's.

"So..." Lydia pulled the envelope from her bag "I got the tickets for the party" she pulled one out and held it out for Allison.

Allison looked between Lydia and the ticket .

"That's why you were up so early?" Allison asked, her eyes scanned over the ticket "oh, I know this club!"

"You do?"

"Yeah" Allison beamed "it's only a couple of blocks away from my building"

"It's good, the music is good and they never card you"

Allison laughed "I'm twenty one so that isn't really a problem" Allison slipped her ticket into her bag. "Soooo...." Allison sat up and met Lydia's gaze nervously "I think we should exchange numbers"

"We should?"

Allison scratched her neck "Well I mean if you want to? Like then we can actually hang out outside of the bus stop and everything? And then we can maybe go to the party together or meet there or... Yeah, whatever you want"

"You... Want my number?" Lydia asked.

"I- yeah, I do" Allison ran a hand over her hair and okay that really should not be that attractive "...Do you want my number?"

Lydia smiled "yeah, yeah I’d like that"

Allison's face lit up as she smiled, she pulled her phone from her jacket and unlocking it before offering it for Lydia to take.

Lydia typed her number in quickly and handed it back to Allison. Allison typed out a quick message and Lydia heard her phone ring with a message.

"Do you have any more classes?" Allison asked as Lydia saved Allison's number

"No" Lydia sighed "I finished ages ago, I'm waiting for Kira so I can give her the tickets for her, Scott and Stiles, are you finished?"

"Yep, I only had psych today" Allison gestured to her book "but I have studying I should be doing"

Lydia eyed the book "is that for your mythology class?"

"Yeah" Allison frowned at the book "Plato"

"Any good?"

"Timaeus, it's about Atlantis"

"And?"

"I liked the movie better" Allison admitted, she frowned slightly "but I think that's just because I had a massive crush on Princess Kida..."

Lydia laughed "You and me both"

  
Lydia opened her eyes slowly, it takes her brain a few moments to catch up to the fact that she is most definitely _not_ in her room.

Or her apartment for that matter.

No, no, Lydia was definitely still in the library, face pressed against something soft. Lydia blinked the rest of her sleep away and touched at the material, her fingers coming into contact with cool leather.

Lydia froze.

Leather.

No, no, no.

Lydia sat upright and snapped her head around to where Allison was still sat, book open in her left hand.

"Holy shit, Allison I'm so sorry" Lydia apologised, she stared at Allison's shoulder

At least she hadn't drooled.

Allison lowered her book and turned to Lydia, smiling softly

"Its okay, you feel better?"

"Much" Lydia replied, smoothing over her hair, trying to conceal her lingering embarrassment "oh God, how long was I out?" 

Allison shrugged and folded the corner of the page down "just over an hour"

"Oh _God_ " Lydia hid her face in her hands.

"Your friend Kira showed up too, she uh.... She took the three tickets and... She kinda took a picture of you?"

Lydia peered at Allison through her fingers "She did what?"

Allison scratched her neck "yeah... She thought it was adorable or something?"

"I fell asleep on your shoulder" Lydia groaned "that's not adorable, that's mortifying"

Allison clicked her tongue "sorry to say I have to agree with Kira, it was adorable"

Lydia was still glad she was hiding her face, her skin was red hot so she could only imagine how much she was blushing right now.

"Wait" Lydia frowned as soon as she had composed herself "you stayed"

Allison's brow furrowed "yeah?"

"For over an hour"

"...yeah?"

"But you finished classes ages ago?"

Allison nodded "yeah? Lydia, where are you going with all this?"

"You're still here"

"I was hardly going to just get up and leave you in the library alone" Allison replied with a shrug.

"Yeah but... I fell asleep on you"

"Yep. It was adorable, you slept, I read, you woke up and now we're having this talk and honestly, I'm a little confused"

"You stayed and let me sleep on your shoulder"

"Yeah" Allison nodded "I did"

"Right... Okay"

"Okay?"

Lydia smiled "Thank you"

"You're welcome?"

Lydia rested her chin in her hand and smiled "So how's the book?"

Allison threw the book down into her bag, she laughed and met Lydia's eye

"The movie is still better" she shrugged.

Lydia hid her face in her hand and laughed "I'm not sure the movie is accurate to Plato's works"

Allison waved a hand "A minor technicality" she laughed, eyes studying Lydia for a few moments "So... Walk you to the bus?"

Lydia moved so fast she almost fell from her chair.

 

"So, what's the deal with this party? All Stiles keeps saying is it's some douchebags birthday" Allison asked as they walled side by side.

"Jackson, we all went to high school with him... he's my ex. And he is a massive douchebag. But he's not as bad as Stiles makes out"

Allison nods slowly "so you're friends with Jackson?"

"More like acquaintances, his boyfriend, Danny, he's one of my oldest friends so we're civil enough together" Lydia shrugs.

She feels her hand brush against Allison's and she managed to force herself to keep her hand still.

"Danny is the guy you had to meet this morning right?" 

"That's right, he wants to meet you at the party by the way"

Allison faltered slightly in her walk and looked down to Lydia.

"He does? Why?"

"He wants to know who's captured the interest of my little group" she caught sight of Allison's concerned expression and nudged her with her shoulder "Don't worry, he's a sweetheart, and it's impossible to not like you"

"You think so?"

"Definitely" Lydia nodded "you're very likeable"

Allison nudged Lydia back as they came to a stop "you are too. I like spending time with you Lydia, I don't think I've never met anybody like you" Allison admitted, her hands shoved into her pockets as she nudged at a rock with the toe of her boot

"You too," Lydia replied "it's not everyday I meet a person who I apparently feel comfortable enough around to fall asleep on"

Allison threw her head back and laughed, the sound like a melody to Lydia's ears

"I'm glad that you feel comfortable enough around me to fall asleep"

"Yeah" Lydia scratched the back of her head "next time we hang out I promise I won't fall asleep"

"I'm going to have to hold you to that Lyds"

 

* * *

 

 

"How have you two not kissed yet!?" Kira exclaimed "she called you Lyds! She nicknamed you!"

"Kira, you're obsessed" Lydia sighed, pulling at the crust of her sandwich.

"Look at this Lydia" Kira pulled out her phone and moved her fingers over the screen before turning the screen to Lydia "look how fucking cute that is"

Lydia stared at the picture of herself and Allison, her face tucked carefully into Allison's shoulder. Allison, meanwhile, was looking past the camera at Kira, confusion clear in her eyes.

It was a little cute.

But it was a lot embarrassing.

"I can't believe you took a picture" Lydia groaned.

"You're lucky I didn't share it on Facebook, Instagram, twitter and tumblr"

"You don't even have a tumblr" Lydia replied.

"Well maybe I'll get one Lydia, maybe I will get a tumblr" Kira huffed.

Lydia frowned "Anyway..." She flicked a bit of crust at Kira's face "I feel like you're more obsessed with Allison than me or Stiles"

"I'm just invested in your relationship with her" Kira shrugged "it's all cute and awkward, you're like a teenager"

"Kira-"

"All you're missing is Allison being all chivalrous and giving you her jacket and then kissing in the rain" Kira replied, chin resting in her hand as she pokes at her salad with her fork

"It worries me how much you've thought about this" Lydia mumbled

"Thought about what?" Stiles asked, him and Scott sliding into their seats

"Kira was just telling me how she doesn't understand why people would go to Jurassic park and then be alarmed when the terrifying carnivorous dinosaurs begin to kill and eat them" Lydia replied quickly.

Kira's mouth dropped open and stared at Lydia.

"First of all, it's Jurassic world, not park" Stiles corrected, he turned to Kira "and they're dinosaurs, it's worth the risk"

"We really need to see that movie" Scott added "when does it come out?"

Kira typed away on her phone for a few moments "Next month"

"Do you think Allison likes dinosaurs?" Stiles asked "I could ask her to go"

"I think you should let it go dude" Scott replied, glancing momentarily at Lydia "I don't think she's interested"

"She just might have been busy Scott, it was just a blip"

Lydia frowned and looked between her friends.

"In sorry, what was a blip now?"

Scott smiled earnestly as Stiles sighed and dropped his face to the desk

"Stiles... Asked Allison to go out with coffee with him"

" _What._ When?" Kira asked, her voice sounding more aggressive than she probably intended.

"after class" Stiles sighed "She said no because she had other things to do"

"Scott's right, Stiles, she's probably not interested" Kira replied.

"But she's coming to the party with us" Stiles frowned "I asked her and she said yes"

"You weren't clear about you wanting it to be a _date_ , date though" Scott said "and we're all going"

Stiles looked from Kira to Scott "who's side are you people on?"

"I'm just saying you should cut your losses" Scott shrugged "She's a good friend"

"Are you friend zoning me on Allison's behalf?" Stiles gasped.

"You did _not_ just say the F word" Kira exclaimed "Stiles!"

Lydia felt her phone vibrate in her pocket and welcomed the distraction from the imminent argument.

_From: Allison_  
_Hey,  
_ _Are you busy right now?_

Lydia looked at the now arguing Kira and Stiles, smiling sympathetically at Scott, who was literally in between the pair.

_To: Allison  
_ _Not exactly... I'm in the cafeteria, Kira and Stiles are fighting..._

_From: Allison_  
_Ouch :(  
_ _Do you need rescuing?_

_To: Allison_  
_Jesus, please, this is so uncomfortable  
_ _Does this make you a knight in shining armour?_

_From: Allison_  
_Coffee? My treat?  
_ _...I suppose? Does this make you the princess?_

_To: Allison_  
_Coffee is good, honestly a car crash sounds good right now...  
_ _You say princess, I say khaleesi_

Lydia looked up to her friends, Kira was still giving Stiles a lecture, the boy looked incredibly irritated and Scott.

Oh poor Scott.

Caught in the middle.

At least Lydia could escape. Scott was trapped between his girlfriend and best friend.

_From: Allison_  
_...It's a good thing neither of us drive then, isn't it?  
_ _I'll meet you outside the cafeteria?_

_To: Allison  
_ _Hurry_

_From: Allison  
_ _Whatever you say, khaleesi ;)_

Lydia slipped her phone back into her pocket and pushed her plate away.

"Well I'm gonna go" she said, cutting through the _still_ raging argument. Kira and Stiles both stopped and turned to her.

"Wait, what?" Stiles frowned.

"Why?" Kira asked.

Lydia reached for her bag and stood up.

"I... Have homework" Lydia frowned. She looked over to Kira "Send me that file?"

"What file?" Kira's brow furrowed in confusion.

"The file from yesterday, you know the one I'm talking about" Lydia stared at Kira and watches realisation dawn slowly on the girls face.

"Oh. _Oh._ Right, yes, I'll send it over right away. Um... Okay, have fun with the... Homework" Kira nodded.

"I will..." Lydia replied.

"You do that homework, all night" Kira smirked.

"I'm leaving" Lydia groaned.

"What is happening?" Scott asked quietly.

Lydia hadn't even left the cafeteria when she got the message from Kira.

 

"So what were they fighting about?" Allison asked.

"What?" 

"Kira and Stiles, you said they were fighting"

"Ah" Lydia palmed her mug, blowing at the steam "yeah, uh... Kira was explaining that the friend zone doesn't exist"

Allison laughed "it doesn't!"

"Try telling that to boys" Lydia rolled her eyes.

Allison hummed in agreement and sipped at her coffee, eyes trained on Lydia.

"See, this is why I don't bother with boys" 

"Girls are definitely better" Lydia agreed.

Allison beamed "So... Khaleesi. Didn't think you were a game of thrones fan"

"Natalie Dormer and dragons, Allison"

"Two of the most important things" Allison nodded.

 

"Do you eat anything other than candy and chocolate?" Lydia asked.

Allison paused as she opened her twix bar, she smiled sheepishly.

"Does pizza count?" 

"I guess"

"Then yes, I eat other stuff" Allison offered the pack to Lydia "I don't really cook much"

Lydia took one of the bars and bit into it, watching as Allison did the same with her own. Lydia watches her as they eat, it's peaceful in their corner of the library.

Lydia found that as long as she wasn't in a class, Allison would study in the library with her.

Studying normally equated talking about movies and whatever else would come to mind but Lydia cherished the time nonetheless.

"Hey, so the party is at eight right?" Allison asked.

"Doors open at eight" Lydia replied .

"And there's no dress code?"

"I think the phrase used was 'don't look homeless'" Lydia laughed, it was a very Jackson thing to say "but don't worry, you never look homeless"

"And I was trying so hard" Allison mumbled "and hear I was thinking homeless chic was in" she reached up to tug on her beanie.

Lydia leant over to pull it down over Allison's eyes, laughing at the way Allison whined and pulled away, pushing the beanie back up to show one of her eyes.

"I don't have to bring gifts or anything right?"

"No, he's a rich boy. Basically think Joffery Baratheon, but without the whole sadistic evil thing"

Allison frowned and readjusted her beanie "uh.... Lyds, you're not really selling this guy to me"

Lydia waved a hand "you don't need to like him, but you will probably meet him at some point"

Allison scratched the back of her neck and looked thoughtful for a few moments

"I feel like I'm under scrutiny" Allison said.

"How do you mean?" Lydia asked.

"You said Danny wants to meet me and now your ex wants to meet me too... Kinda feels like I'm seeking approval or something" she shrugged.

Allison didn't clarify what she meant by seeking approval and Lydia was still too apprehensive about whatever this was between them to ask. Yeah, Lydia was sure they were flirting but honestly, it was hard to tell when it came to Allison.

It was a little worrying that maybe whatever this is between the two of them might just be part of Lydia's imagination, fuelled by Kira's encouragement (obsession) 

"Lydiaaaa" Allison waved a hand in front of her face "earth to Lydia, you in there?"

Lydia blinked and pushed Allison's hand from her face .

"Sorry, sorry. I'm back"

"Where'd you go?" Allison cocked her head to one side, eyes flickering across Lydia's face.

"....uh...I was thinking about what I should wear tonight, any suggestions?"

Allison folded her arms onto the desk and rested her chin on her arms, looking up at Lydia and with those chocolate eyes Lydia can't help but picture a puppy.

"You'll look great no matter what you wear" Allison replied .

"That's not helpful Alli"

Allison seemed to perk up considerably at that and it was only when Lydia realised she had used a nickname did she understand why.

"I don't even know what I'm wearing yet" Allison admitted "I feel like jeans and a t-shirt is underplaying it a little..." She sat up suddenly "I think we're over thinking it"

"Probably" Lydia agreed.

"We should just go home, put together a random outfit and then meet at the bar of the club"

Lydia nodded "okay"

"And then you should probably dance with me"

"I- okay"

Allison nodded "okay. Good" She looked at the time and stood up abruptly "holy shit"

Lydia looked at the clock on the wall.

"Allison, you're fifteen minutes late to class"

"Holy shit I need to go" Allison grabbed her bag "okay, so I'll see you tonight?"

Lydia blushed and nodded "at the bar"

"I call first dance with you" Allison called as she walked away, backwards, Lydia was just thankful there were no chairs in sight.

"I'll be waiting!" Lydia called back.

Allison managed to trip over her own feet, Lydia moved to go to help the girl but Allison was quick to get up and laughing.

"I'll see you tonight!" Allison called before disappearing from view.

Lydia had to hide her face in her hands to compose herself.

She still didn't know what she was going to wear.

 

"Kira, I don't want to wear crazy high heels, there's going to be drinking and dancing" Lydia groaned, pulling another dress from her closet, it was a nice blue but didn't really scream 'party'

She threw it onto the maybe pile and found it was very likely her bed now contained more clothes than her closet.

She heard Kira sigh over the speaker phone.

_"Lydia, you have like five inches of height difference "_

"That means nothing Kira"

_"I guess the height difference is cute..."_

"Don't make me hang up on you Kira"

Kira gasped _"I thought you needed fashion advice! Which honestly is just a testament to how much you like her because Lydia Martin doesn't do fashion advice"_

"Okay, okay" Lydia cut her off "should I wear a dress or a skirt and blouse?"

 _"wear something red"_ Kira said instead _"red is hot"_

Lydia eyed one of her skirts, a deep wine red and began to put her outfit together 

_"Lydia?"_

"Sorry, I was thinking"

_"Have you got this? I need to get going"_

Lydia frowned and walked over to the phone, switching it off of speaker and pressing it to her ear.

"Where are you going?" Lydia asked.

_"Uhhh.... The party?"_

"What? But it's only-" Lydia checked the time and froze "seven thirty... Oh shit"

_"yep! Hurry, I'll see you there!"_

The line went dead and Lydia was left alone to find her outfit, get ready and get to the club in thirty minutes.

She was fucked.

 

Forty five minutes later, Lydia walked into the club.

She would have been there earlier but she had panicked over her heels and spent at least five minutes debating between two different pairs until eventually going for the smaller of the two.

She wanted to be able to walk after all, especially if she was going to be drinking

Lydia did a quick scan of the club, recognising a few faces from high school, some from college. 

She made a beeline for the bar, already focused on seeking out Allison and finding her friends second.

She should probably also say hi to Jackson at some point too, it was his party after all

Lydia reached the bar, faltering slightly at the sight of a girl leaning on the bar, talking to the bartender behind it and Lydia knew immediately that it was Allison. Lydia settled for watching the girl for a few moments, not so subtly checking out her ass the entire time.

Allison turned suddenly and leant against the bar, plastic cup in her hand and already being lifted to her lips, pausing when their eyes locked

"Lydia?" Allison set the cup down on the bar behind her "holy... Lydia, hey"

"Hey" Lydia replied, walking closer.

Allison stood up straight and held a hand out, beckoning Lydia closer and curling her fingers around Lydia's wrist to pull her closer against the bar

"You look... You look incredible" Allison said, eyes looking over Lydia 

Lydia glanced down at her own outfit, she had opted to go simple in the end, red skirt and white blouse. She'd kept her hair down, deciding that she really was over thinking the entire thing.

"Thank you" Lydia replied, forcing herself to focus anywhere other than where Allison's fingers were still around her wrist or the way her eyes will still moving over her body. 

She fully took in Allison's own appearance for the first time, Allison had still worn dark jeans, but instead of the predicted t-shirt, Allison had worn a white button up and blazer with the sleeves rolled up to the elbows. Her hair had been straightened and looked impossibly soft and Lydia could make out a silver necklace with an arrow charm.

"You look amazing" Lydia said, still fighting against the urge to see if Allison's hair feels as soft as it looks .

Allison beamed "thank you" she gestured to the bar "can I buy you a drink?"

"Uh, sure, strawberry daiquiri please" 

Allison nodded and let go of her wrist to wave the bartender back over and ordered the drink.

"I was beginning to get worried" Allison admitted, sliding a ten across the counter as a drink was set down in front of her "I was gonna call you in like fifteen minutes" 

"Yeah, sorry about that, I uh, lost track of time"

"That's okay" Allison laughed "I was just worried"

Lydia took a sip of her drink and finally caught sight of Scott and Kira across the club, sat at a table and leaning in close to talk to each other.

"So" Allison looked thoughtful as she took a sip of her own drink and turned her head to Lydia "we should dance after this"

"Yeah?" Lydia smirked.

Allison nodded "definitely, if you want to, obviously, I'm not going to force you obviously or pressure"

Lydia reached out to place her hand on Allison's forearm, cutting her off

"I want to" Lydia replied.

Allison grinned .

 

Ten minutes and two drinks later when Lydia was being led through the crowd by Allison until they found a space.

The space was limited between and Lydia found herself pressed impossibly close to Allison as they danced.

It was awkward through the course of the first song but Lydia soon felt someone bump into the back of her and send her into Allison's chest, the girls hand coming to rest on her hip.

Lydia twisted her head and caught a glimpse of Scott and Kira disappearing into the crowd, just catching a dramatic wink from Kira.

"Is this okay?" Allison asked, her voice incredibly close to her ear.

Lydia leant back slightly and almost immediately Allison's hand began to move. Lydia made a split second decision and moved her own arms up to loop quickly around Allison's neck to keep her in place.

"Yeah," Lydia replied, looking up into Allison's eyes "this is okay"

Allison's smile grew as they danced together, Lydia couldn't focus on anything past the beat of the music, Allison's hand on her waist and how Allison's eyes were focused so intently on her own.

After a minute or so, Allison reached up with her free hand and pushed some hair from Lydia's face, smiling softly.

If Lydia wasn't already halfway to being in love with this girl, this would be the moment she fell.

 

After a while, Lydia pulled away, albeit reluctantly.

"Drink?" Allison asked "I kinda need a break"

Lydia laughed and nodded in agreement, there was only so much her feet could take

Allison smiled and led Lydia back towards the bar, easily finding an empty barstool and ushering Lydia to sit down and ordered them both drinks.

Allison was handing over the money when a familiar figure slid up beside Lydia.

"Where have you been hiding?" Danny asked, smiling warmly.

"We've been dancing" Lydia replied.

"Here" Allison held a glass out for Lydia and paused at the sight of Danny.

"Hi" Danny greeted, offering a hand "Danny, pleased to meet you"

Allison took his hand and shook it apprehensively.

"Allison"

"Nice to finally meet you, Allison"

"I-what?"

"Allison!" A voice yelled .

Stiles practically came crashing through the crowd, almost falling into Allison. And he would have too, had Allison not stepped to the side and pressed herself closer to Lydia and watching as he fell into the bar .

"Hey" Allison greeted with a small frown.

"Hey Lydia, Danny" Stiles waved at the pair before he waved the bartender over, Lydia shared a look with Danny as Stiles ordered a drink.

"Don't you think you've had enough Stiles?" Danny asked.

"No, no. Not really" Stiles replied, taking a large drink from his glass "you look great Allison"

"Thanks" 

"Honestly, I'm loving the whole blazer thing"

"Right..." Allison replied and Lydia knew she definitely wasn't imagining the look of irritation on Allison's face.

"Where's Jackson?" Lydia asked Danny, a weak attempt at distracting them all from an apparent drunk Stiles.

"He's around here somewhere" Danny replied, "he'll want to say hi to you"

"How long have you two been together?" Allison asked.

"We're coming up on five years next month" Danny beamed.

Allison moved closer, hand pressed protectively against the small of Lydia's back as they began to fall into easy conversation.

"Allison, do you wanna dance?" Stiles asked.

"No thanks, Stiles" 

Lydia watched Stiles' face fall and hoped to God that it was enough for him to back off and accept defeat.

"Did I ever tell you what I like about you?" Stiles began.

Allison turned slightly away from Lydia to properly look at Stiles.

"You're not like other girls" Stiles continued.

Allison set her drink down on the bar .

"What the _fuck_ is wrong with other girls?" She asked, voice sharp.

Stiles looked taken back by Allison's response "That wasn't what I- I mean... You're not obsessed with finding the perfect pair of heels or something"

"Whoa, what the fuck Stiles?" Lydia frowned

"Is that supposed to be a compliment?" Allison asked.

"Wow, Stiles should write a book" Danny mumbled "he could call it 'how to offend a woman in five syllables or less' it'd be a best-seller"

"Pretty sure it was more than five syllables" Lydia replied.

"Yeah but nothing else would be as catchy" Danny shrugged.

"What wouldn't be as catchy?" Jackson asked, appearing at Danny's side and throwing an arm around his shoulders "Lydia, hey"

"Happy Birthday" Lydia greeted.

She looked over her shoulder at Allison and Stiles and Lydia could see the regret in his face, Allison seemed to be handling herself extremely well.

"Lydia, I would like to thank you for making us invite your loser friends to my party, really, thank you for that" Jackson rolled his eyes "really, I'm so glad Stilinski is drunk and running around like a freak, just what I needed"

Danny reached over to pat him on the shoulder "if it helps, Lydia's new love interest is giving him the greatest verbal beat down ever and we're all totally missing it"

"Wait, love interest?"

"Shut up!" Lydia reached over to slap them both "don't let her hear you!"

"That's her?" Jackson asked, gesturing to Allison.

"That's her" Danny nodded.

"Well done Lydia" Jackson mumbled.

"Stiles, look, I want to be your friend, but that's all, that was all I ever wanted to be with you and I honestly have no idea where you got the idea that there was something between the two of us but there really isn't"

"I... There isn't?" Stiles asked.

"No Stiles, there isn't, I thought that was obvious"

"It wasn't" Stiles huffed.

"Then you're probably just oblivious" Jackson stepped in.

Allison seemed relieved by Jackson's intervention and moved back into Lydia's space, sighing heavily.

"Jackson! Who invited you?"

"Dude, you're wrecked" Danny frowned.

"It's my party, Stilinski" Jackson replied "you should probably go and find McCall before we get you kicked out"

"But I-"

"Finish that sentence Stiles, give me an excuse to kick your ass"

To Lydia's relief, Stiles listened and backed away, disappearing into the crowd and hopefully following Jackson's advice.

"Damn. I wanted to kick his ass" Jackson sighed.

"Easy there" Danny replied.

"You okay?" Lydia asked, placing a hand on Allison's elbow

"Yeah" Allison replied, smiling down at Lydia "I should be asking you, he's more your friend than mine"

"I'm not entirely sure he noticed I was here" Lydia shrugged.

Allison held her gaze for a few more moments, only tearing away when Jackson makes a gesture with his hand.

"Jackson, who the hell are you?"

"Um.. Allison, Allison Argent"

"I like you Allison Argent" he replied, he focused his gaze on Lydia "keep her"

"And on that note, come on Jacks, Greenberg just got here"

Danny winked subtly and dragged Jackson away, leaving Lydia alone with Allison once more.

"So, that was a mood killer" Allison sighed, sipping at her drink slowly.

Lydia looked down into her own drink .

"It's only a mood killer if we let it" Lydia replied.

A moment passed and she felt Allison's eyes on her. Lydia turned her head and met Allison's stare.

"Do you wanna dance again?" Allison asked "or do you wanna get out of here?"

"Where do you want to go?"

Allison shrugged "Wherever you want, you could come to my place? Watch a movie or whatever you want"

Lydia thought for a moment, weighing the options, she didn't really want to dance and drink until she was at Stiles' point. She wanted to remember this night with Allison, whatever this night is between them.

"A movie sounds good" Lydia replied.

Allison smiled "well okay then" she set her drink down on the bar and pushed herself away from the bar and offered her hand for Lydia to take.

Lydia set her own drink down and took Allison's hand.

She distinctly saw Kira give her the thumbs up as she left.

 

They walked to Allison's building in relative silence, their hands still tangled together between them, Lydia was a little fascinated by the entire gesture. Her hand fit perfectly into Allison's and it was by far the warmest part of her body.

After a few more minutes, Allison stopped walking abruptly.

"Are you cold?" She asked.

"I'm fine, honestly" Lydia replied.

But Allison was already letting go of he hand and tugging off her blazer and despite Lydia's protests she draped it over her shoulders, turning Lydia towards her and rubbing her hands over Lydia's arms, trying to force some heat into her skin.

"Come on" Allison said "you can borrow something of mine, your outfit is incredible and you look gorgeous, but it's not really warm" 

She took Lydia's hand again and they began to walk once more, Lydia couldn't tear her eyes off of Allison.

"You think I'm gorgeous?"

"I always do" Allison replied easily "you have seen you right?"

Lydia ducked her head and blushed, she pressed herself into Allison's side.

"I think you're gorgeous too" she admitted.

Allison's apartment was exactly how Lydia imagined it to be, Allison led her to the bedroom and pulled out a blue sweater with black hearts over it and offered it out to Lydia, grabbing a grey hoodie for herself

"Do you want pants? I have sweatpants-"

"No, thank you, this is more than enough" Lydia replied, handing Allison her blazer back.

"Right, okay... Um, I'm gonna go get snacks and drinks, do you want beer? I think I only have beer"

"Beer sounds good" Lydia laughed.

Allison zipped up her hoodie and nodded, backing up towards the door.

"Come out when you're ready, the DVDs are next to the TV, choose whatever you want" 

Lydia watched Allison leave the room and quickly pulled the sweater on over her blouse and scanned Allison's room, it was almost empty save for a desk holding her laptop and a few books scattered around. Lydia caught a glimpse of the bow resting in the corner of the room.

Lydia made her way through the apartment back to the living room and crouched down in front of Allison's, quite frankly, impressive movie collection.

Lydia laughed as she saw the movie towards the top of the pile and pulled it free

"You found something?" Allison asked, walking out of the kitchen, beers and snacks balanced in her arms .

Lydia held up Allison's copy of Atlantis and smiled as Allison laughed.

"Good choice" Allison nodded. She set everything down by the sofa and gestured for Lydia to go sit down as she set the movie up.

For the first half an hour they were polite, Allison had sat on the other end of the sofa

  
Until it had gotten colder and Lydia found herself inching closer to Allison, eventually Allison pulled the blanket down from the back of the sofa and draped it over them both.

"Lydia?" 

"Hm?" 

"You know I was never interested in Stiles right?"

"Yeah" Lydia replied.

"Because I like you" Allison replied.

Lydia looked up and saw a flash of shock pass over Allison's features followed by a burst of nervous laughter.

"I can't believe I just said that while we're watching Atlantis and definitely a little drunk and you're in my apartment. So don't feel obligated to say anything cause I'm not trying to pressure you or-"

Lydia grabbed Allison's hand and tangled their fingers together.

"I like you too" Lydia replied "a lot, actually"

"I- you do?"

"Yes Allison, I do." Lydia moved closer and dropped her head onto Allison's shoulder "I mean have you seen you?"

Allison laughed fondly and rested her head against Lydia's.

"Okay, good"

"Good" Lydia echoed.

 

Lydia woke slowly, turning her head into the warmth and freezing when whatever the warm thing was _moved._

Lydia opened her eyes and pulled back, her body pressed flush against Allison's, still lying together on the sofa as the title screen to Atlantis plays quietly in the background.

Lydia can't remember exactly how she ended up lying mostly on top of Allison but she knows she definitely doesn't want to move.

Allison looks incredible too.

But all good things must come to an end as Allison stirs and opens her eyes, blinking slowly until they focus on Lydia and then she freezes.

"Hey" Allison greeted quietly.

Lydia braced one of her hands on the back of the sofa and pulled herself up just enough to see Allison's face clearly.

"Hey" Lydia replied, she couldn't ignore the energy between the two of them, like sparks waiting to ignite or some other cliché like that.

Allison stared up at her for a few moments longer before smiling.

"Do you want breakfast?" She asked.

Lydia nodded "sure"

Allison stared at Lydia expectantly and Lydia could only stare back.

"Lydia?"

"Yeah?"

"I... can't make breakfast unless you move"

"Oh, oh shit, sorry" Lydia pushed herself back quickly, almost overbalancing and would have fallen back over the arm of the sofa had Allison not shot forward to grab her wrist and steadying her.

"Easy!" Allison laughed, "you okay?"

"Yeah, yep, I'm okay"

Allison pulled her legs free from under Lydia and let go of her wrist

"Do you like pancakes?"

"Pancakes are good" 

Allison beamed and pushed a stray lock of hair from Lydia's face before getting up and walking through to the kitchen.

 

"So...." Allison began, she sipped at her coffee and waited for Lydia to look up from her food.

To say Allison doesn't cook much, pancakes are one thing she has down to an art

"Yeah?"

"So I'm gonna ask you something and I don't want the whole Stiles thing or the fact that you keep using me as a human pillow and that you're probably eating the best pancakes of your life-"

"Allison"

"Yeah?"

"What's your question?"

Allison blushed slightly and poked at her pancakes with her fork

"So remember how last night I told you how I liked you?"

"Vividly"

"And then you said you liked me too?"

"I did" Lydia nodded. 

She honestly had no idea how she was being so calm, on the inside, Lydia was screaming and there was a distinctly Kira voice cheering in the back of her mind but Lydia managed to stay composed and focused on the girl sat cross legged facing her

"Okay" Allison nodded. She took a steadying breath "Will you go out with me? Like a real date, cause I know we've hung out and everything and I really enjoyed last night and-"

"Yes"

Allison froze mid sentence and stared at Lydia "what?"

"Yes, I'll go on a real date with you"

"I- are you sure?" 

Lydia smiled and moved up, closed the distance between them to press a kiss to Allison's cheek 

"I'm definitely sure" Lydia replied, leaning back slowly and watching Allison's awed expression.

Allison reached up to touch her cheek, eyes wide as she tried to process what Lydia had done.

"You know, I had an entire speech planned" Allison said after a few moments.

"I kinda figured, but you looked like you needed some help" Lydia shrugged.

"I appreciate the thought" Allison replied.

 

"Kira, what are you doing here?" Lydia frowned at the girl on her doorstep.

"You danced with her-"

"No thanks to you" Lydia mumbled, stepping to the side to let Kira in.

"And then you left the club early, _with_ Allison. You don't call or text until noon and all you did was kiss her on the cheek!" Kira span to face Lydia and crossed her arms over her chest "I'm disappointed, Lydia"

"We're going on a date tomorrow" Lydia replied.

"Wait, seriously?"

Lydia nodded "seriously, we woke up, she made me breakfast, asked me on a date, I said yes"

Kira leapt at her, arms flinging around her neck.

"Thank God!" Kira squealed "God, it's about time!"

"Okay, okay, get off of me" Lydia groaned, pushing Kira away. She frowned at the girl "did you seriously come here to yell at me for not hooking up with Allison?"

Kira stepped back and rubbed the back of her neck "No? Not entirely... Maybe a little- okay, yes. Fine. _Fine_. I came to yell at you, you should have slept with her!"

" _Technically_ I did sleep with her" Lydia replied.

"Don't try and get by on technicalities Lydia" Kira called over her shoulder as she disappeared into Lydia's kitchen. She returned a few moments later with a bag of chips that Lydia is sure must be expired.

Lydia should probably point that out.

"So, you're going on a date?" She asked.

"Yep" Lydia smiled and God, she couldn't stop smiling every time she thought about it.

"Where are you going?" Kira threw a handful of chips into her mouth and dropped down onto Lydia's sofa.

"I don't know" Lydia shrugged, sitting down beside her "she's picking me up at three and told me to dress warm"

"Dress warm?" Kira's face scrunched up "What the fuck" she frowned down at the bag of chips "I think these chips have gone bad by the way"

"They have" Lydia replied. 

"....Thanks" 

Lydia checked her phone (she wasn't looking for a message from Allison, shut up)

"How's Stiles?" Lydia asked.

"Hungover, Scott had to take him back to their apartment" Kira sighed.

"So you're pissed at him too?" 

"Not as pissed as you are"

Lydia waved a hand "I'm angry on Allison's behalf, he was being a jerk"

Kira hummed "how do you think he's gonna react when he finds out that you and Allison are a thing?"

"I'm thinking that if we distract him with someone almost as attractive as Allison everything will be fine"

" _Almost_ as attractive?" Kira raised an eyebrow.

"As if anyone can compare to the hotness of that girl, seriously Kira, if me and Allison end up being an item I definitely win prizes for hottest partner"

"Duly noted" Kira muttered, she elbowed Lydia "so. You need to give me all of the gossip, spare no detail"

 

The door knocked at three on the dot. Lydia put the finishing touch on her lip gloss and hurried to the door.

"Hey" Allison greeted "you look incredible, these are for you" Allison pulled a bouquet of lilies from behind her back.

"Allison... They're beautiful" Lydia replied as she took the flowers from Allison, she leant in close and kissed Allison on the cheek, leaving behind the faintest trace of peach lip gloss in her wake.

"You look beautiful too" Lydia added before turning on her heel to place the flowers in a vase and fill it with water.

When she returned, Allison was still waiting in the doorway.

"You could have come in" Lydia said.

Allison shrugged "that's okay, are you ready?"

Lydia grabbed her purse and made sure she had her keys before nodding and Allison offered her hand, Lydia didn't hesitate to tangle their fingers together.

 

"Ice skating" Lydia said, "I can't believe you brought me ice skating" 

Allison froze and turned carefully, looking concerned by Lydia's words.

"I just... You mentioned once that you missed it sometimes, we can go somewhere else if you want?"

Lydia stepped onto the ice and took Allison's hands in her own, Allison seemed to take the hint and began to move backwards, pulling Lydia along with her.

"I didn't say I didn't like it, I was shocked that you remembered" 

"As long as you're happy"

Lydia pulled away and skated ahead slightly, it felt good to be back on the ice again after so many years and Lydia could feel herself remembering techniques she had perfected all that time ago. She span around to face Allison and beamed at the awed look on her face.

"I'm very happy" Lydia replied.

 

It became clear as the date went on that Allison wasn't as skilled on the ice as Lydia originally thought, she could move around easily enough, she could even skate backwards with ease.

But occasionally, Lydia would catch Allison stumble and just about correct herself before she could fall. Allison would cling to Lydia's hand and let her lead them around the rink, wide smile in place the entire time.

"I thought you said you used to skate" Lydia smirked.

"I did!" Allison protested "Granted I was like seven at the time but I used to skate!"

Lydia gave Allison a teasing smile "are you sure? Cause I'm pretty sure I've seen you almost fall at least half a dozen times"

"Well maybe that's because I'm distracted" Allison replied, casting a sidelong glance at Lydia.

"By what?"

Allison smiled "by you, obviously"

And Lydia wasn't sure who's fault it was (she was actually about eighty percent sure that it was actually her fault) all she knew for sure was that one of them tripped.

One of them tripped and they were falling and all Lydia was aware of was Allison had hit the ice first, landing painfully hard on her back, a situation definitely not helped by Lydia ending up on top of her as they continue to slide across the ice.

"Okay, ow" Allison groaned.

Lydia lifted her head from Allison's chest and cupped Allison's cheek with her hand, turning her head from side to side.

"Are you okay?" Lydia asked.

Allison reached up to touch her hand to Lydia's hand and opened her eyes, smiling as she does.

"I'm fine, are you okay?"

Lydia laughed and brought her other hand to Allison's face and pushed the hair away. Allison stared up at her, cheeks tinted pink and breath coming out slowly.

Lydia stroked her thumbs over Allison's cheekbones, giving Allison one last look before closing the distance between them and pressing their lips together.

It took Allison a moment to respond to the kiss, hand tightening around her own and leaning up up into it.

She took Lydia's breath away.

When Lydia finally broke the kiss, it took her a moment to open her eyes, only to find Allison already staring back up at her, Lydia's lip gloss smeared over her lips.

"You distract me too" Lydia replied quietly.

Allison's eyes flickered from Lydia's eyes to her lips and Lydia was left wondering if she had broken the girl, she hadn't spoken for what felt like a small infinity to Lydia. 

Eventually, Allison lifted her head slightly to brush their lips together .

Maybe they don't need words at all.

 

* * *

 

 

"I think I may have hurt my back" Allison sighed leaning back into the soft leather of the sofa, Lydia sets their drinks down onto the table and sitting beside her.

"I'm sorry" Lydia apologised, if for nothing more than the fact that it was very likely it was her fault they had fallen in the first place.

Allison laughed and looped her arm through Lydia's, pulling her closer.

"Don't apologise, it was worth it"

"That's a relief" Lydia replied "I'd be sad if my date got injured on our first date"

"First date?" Allison asked "... Does that mean... You want to do this again?"

Lydia made a thoughtful sound "ice skating? No. More dates with you? Definitely" 

"Really?"

"Allison" Lydia sighed "Do I have to kiss you again to convince you of how much I like you?"

"...Well, it wouldn't hurt..." Allison replied with a grin, dimples flashing.

Lydia rolled her eyes but smiled as she leant up to kiss Allison gently.

"I feel like a proud mother" Kira sighed happily.

"Scott, control your girlfriend" Lydia frowned.

"Honestly, at this point she's more invested in your relationship than ours" Scott replied.

"Okay, rude." Kira glared "Can't I just be happy for my best friend finally getting the girl?" She asked.

"Technically we're not official yet" Lydia pointed out.

"Make it official!"

"Does Stiles even know yet?" Scott asked.

"I haven't seen him since the party and Allison said he moved back to his old seat in class... So I don't know how he would take it" Lydia replied with a frown, resting her chin in her hand.

"We need to find him a distraction" Kira said thoughtfully, glancing over to where Derek was taking a group of girls orders. Lydia looked back to Kira and saw the familiar scheming expression.

"And on that note..." Lydia quickly finished her drink.

"Where are you going?" Scott asked.

Lydia got to her feet and picked up her bag.

"I have a date later, I need to get ready"

"Oooh, where are you going?" Kira leant forward in her seat.

"I'm taking Allison out to dinner" Lydia replied "I would tell you where, but I'm worried you'll follow us"

"I would _never_ \- okay, maybe I would have considered it..." Kira murmured.

"I rest my case" Lydia winked.

 

"You didn't have to pay for dinner you know" Allison said as they walked back to Lydia's apartment, swinging their hands idly between them.

"You paid for the last date, it's only fair" Lydia shrugged .

"You know I've still got bruises from the ice" Allison laughed.

"It's only been three days, they will take a while to heal" 

"Really?" Allison frowned "Damn, I miss sleeping on my back"

Lydia squeezed her hand and sighed inwardly as her building came into view.

"Can I take you out for coffee tomorrow?" Allison asked "We both get out of class at the same time..."

"I'd love to" Lydia smiled "Meet you outside your class?"

"Sure" Allison beamed.

They came to a stop outside Lydia's building and spent a few moments staring at one another. Lydia was fascinated by the way Allison's eyes looked like honey whenever the lights from passing cars hit them both and Lydia would be happy to just watch those eyes all evening.

Allison stepped closer, hand moving up to curl around the back of Lydia's neck, she paused for a moment, silently asking for permission and Lydia closed the rest of the distance, grabbing onto Allison's jacket with both of her hands and then they were kissing again. Allison kissed softly, more than happy to let Lydia lead them, Lydia moved up onto the balls of her feet to keep Allison's lips against hers. Lydia swiped her tongue over Allison's lower lip and smiled when she felt Allison gasp and her hands move up into her hair.

When they finally broke apart, Allison was against the wall of the building, breathless and staring at Lydia. Lydia smoothed out Allison's jacket but didn't move away, content to just breathe the same air for a while.

Eventually, Allison laughed, something warm and happy as she dropped her head to rest against Lydia's.

"Goodnight, Lydia" she breathed.

Lydia rested her head against Allison's shoulder for a few more moments .

"Goodnight Allison" she replied, leaning up to kiss her one more time.

 

* * *

 

 

"We should double date one of the days" Kira suggested.

"Allison hanging out with us more in general would be awesome" Scott added .

"Yeah... I don't think Allison and Stiles are speaking yet" Lydia checked her phone, she had been let out of class early and had a good twenty minutes to kill before she was due to meet Allison and had sought out the power couple that are Scott and Kira.

"Still?" Kira frowned.

"Allison wants to be friends with him, but I actually think that it's mostly because she doesn't want to cause tension with us all"

"She's so charming" Kira sighed.

"I'm sorry, do you want to date Allison?" Scott asked with a teasing smile .

"I already have the perfect partner" Kira replied.

"Really? Anyone I know?" Scott smirked.

Lydia wanted to roll her eyes at the pair, but honestly she couldn't help but smile at the easy flirting between them, they've been together since senior year of high school so it's to a given that they'd still be inseparable three years later.

Besides, maybe one day she and Allison will flirt like that.

"So" Kira cleared her throat as she pulled away from Scott, apparently just remembering that Lydia was still there "We need to get Stiles to get his shit together" 

"You said that Derek likes him, right?" Scott asked.

"Well, he looks a little less murderous when he's serving Stiles and he always gives him extra coffee and stuff" Kira shrugged.

"I'm going there with Allison when she gets out of class, if I get a chance I'll talk to him" Lydia replied.

"Forget that" Kira dismissed "it's your date, focus on you and Allison"

"Yeah" Scott agreed "we got this" 

He held up his hand and Kira immediately moved to give him a high five. Lydia smiled at the pair, they're so married already.

"They get out of class in like ten minutes, should we head up to meet them?" Scott suggested "me and Kira can steal Stiles away to give him a talking to"

"Sounds good" Lydia closed her book and slipped it back into her bag.

 

Allison grinned the second Lydia caught her eyes, moving towards her immediately, barely sparing Scott and Kira glance.

"Hey" Allison greeted, moving into Lydia's space before freezing mid step, eyes widening and looking unsure.

"Hey" Lydia smiled, leaning up to press a kiss to the corner of Allison's mouth and tangling their hands together .

"How was class?" 

Allison beamed and leant into Lydia's side.

"It was good, we're looking at Gaelic and Celtic mythology"

"So like faerie rings and stuff?" Lydia asked.

"Yeah!" Allison grinned "it's really interesting"

"Hey, Allison" Scott waved.

Allison turned towards the pair and blushed slightly, stepping closer to Lydia

"Hey Scott, Kira, how are you guys?"

"The usual" Kira waved a hand .

Allison nodded and let go of one of Lydia's hands and gestured to the classroom 

"Stiles is talking to our teacher, he should only take a few minutes I think"

They talk for a little while longer and Lydia can tell Allison is beginning to get distracted and the entire thing is entirely too amusing to Lydia as she knows for sure this time that it's her fault. Ever since Scott and Kira pulled Allison's attention, Lydia had been very deliberately stroking her thumb over Allison's knuckles and Lydia loved Scott and Kira, she really did but damn, she has a coffee date she wants to get to thank you very much.

Thankfully, Kira seemed to be aware of Lydia's growing irritation and wrapped an arm around Scott's shoulders.

"So, we've held you guys up for long enough, we know you have somewhere to be" she said.

Lydia shot her a thankful smile and squeezed Allison's hand, and adjusted the bag on her shoulder.

"We should hang out sometime" Allison said "Get dinner or something"

"Yeah, that sounds good" Scott beamed.

"You ready to go?" Allison asked, turning her attention back onto Lydia.

"Whenever you are" Lydia replied, nudging into Allison's side.

Allison leant down to press a quick kiss to Lydia's temple and the gesture catches Lydia off guard for a moment an and Kira and Scott just looked amused by the entire scene.

"See you guys later" Lydia offered a small wave .

"Tell Stiles we said hi" Allison added.

"Bye guys," Kira grinned "have fun you two" she adds with a wink.

 

Lydia loves this coffee shop so much, by now she spends most of her time there.

But damn, she wishes Derek would get some sofas or something. The most she can do right now is push two arm chairs together so she can be sat as close to Allison as possible.

Allison who is walking towards Lydia with their drinks in tow.

"You're sure you wanted cocoa?" Allison asked as she sat down in the seat opposite

"I think I'm developing a caffeine addiction, a change was needed" Lydia reached for her mug and smiled at the whipped cream and hooked her ankle around Allison's "At least until finals week" she added.

Allison laughed warmly, Lydia leant over to rest her head against Allison's shoulder.

"So, tell me about your class" Lydia said.

"You want to know about my class?"

Lydia nodded "of course, I wanna hear all about your classes and mythology is so in depth and there are so many different cultures surrounding it" she took a sip of cocoa and looked back up at Allison.

Allison smiled and kissed Lydia briefly.

"Okay so we started out reading about hell hounds" Allison began.

Lydia closed her eyes and held Allison's hand as she began to tell her story.

 

* * *

 

 

She found Allison in the library, at their table as always, eyes focused intently on the book in her hand. Lydia walked up behind her and wrapped her arms around Allison's chest and pressed her lips to the spot under her ear. Her own breath caught when she heard Allison suck in a sharp breath and lean back into Lydia's arms.

"Hey" Allison breathed "how was class?"

She turned her head up to Lydia and kissed her soundly.

"Long" Lydia sighed "I'm so tired but I need to find a book before I can go home" 

"Do you need a hand? Uh- finding the book I mean" 

"No it's fine, you keep reading your- what is that anyway?" Lydia frowned as she tried to read the insanely small writing.

"Banshees" Allison replied "they scream to predict death"

"That must be annoying" Lydia frowned "would they scream every time someone dies worldwide or is it localised? Like... Do they get assigned territory? Are there banshee turf wars?"

Allison cut Lydia off with another kiss.

"You ask the real questions Lydia Martin"

"Well I try" Lydia smiled against Allison's lips "Speaking of real questions, you wanna come back to mine when you're done here? I'm thinking naps, take out and Netflix"

Allison hummed thoughtfully and rubbed her hand over Lydia's arm for a few moments.

"I'm in. _But_ we split the cost of take out"

"You drive a hard bargain Allison Argent" Lydia replied "but you have a deal"

Allison beamed and Lydia couldn't resist, she had to kiss the dimple closest to her which only made Allison smile more.

"Go find your book" Allison gestured "I just need to finish this page"

"Okay" Lydia kissed her again "Give me like five minutes" she added as she walked away.

"I'll be waiting" Allison called.

Lydia smiled to herself as she began to scan the aisles.

 

Five minutes later, Lydia returned to their table, book in hand and froze at the sight of Stiles in the seat directly across from Allison. She watched Allison close the book and frown slightly at the boy.

"So I am sorry for what I said at Jackson's party, I was really drunk"

"That's okay" 

"And for the whole avoiding you you for the past couple of weeks" 

"Okay"

"I should have been more clear"

Allison frowned "what?"

"So, do you wanna maybe study together for that test on Monday? We can go get dinner or something, a real date"

"No"

Stiles stared at her "what?" He asked.

"I don't want to go out on a date with you Stiles. I just want to be your friend"

"But... Why not?"

"Because I'm not interested in you like that, I never have been and I said the same thing at the party. I already liked someone else when we met"

"You did? Who?"

Lydia took that as her cue and approached the table, placing her book down beside Allison's and sitting down sideways in her lap before either her or Stiles could question it. Allison's arms wrapped loosely around her waist automatically

"Hey Stiles" Lydia greeted, "you almost ready Alli?"

"...Yeah, yeah. Did you get your book?"

"Yep, last copy too"

"Um... Lydia, what are you doing?" Stiles asked.

"Sitting in my girlfriends lap, what does it look like?" Lydia replied with a smile.

She brought her hand around to the back of Allison's neck, pushing her fingers into Allison's hair and rubbing at the base of her skull, she felt Allison's grip tighten around her and lean into Lydia's touch.

"Girlfriend?" Stiles frowned "But.. since when?"

"A few weeks" Lydia said, Allison nodded in agreement.

"You never said anything" 

"I haven't seen you! You've been AWOL since Jackson's party!"

Stiles made a face and pushed his chair back, one hand grabbing his backpack as he stands up.

"I- I need to go meet Scott, I'll... I'll see you later" Stiles muttered as he fled the scene

Lydia watched him disappear as she kept her hand moving in Allison's hair.

"...Girlfriend?" Allison asked.

"Well, I figured that was what we are" Lydia replied "...Unless I'm wrong?" She added after a brief pause

"No, no. It's just... We never talked about it" Allison pulled Lydia slightly closer "so we're definitely doing this? We're exclusive?"

"I'm in if you are" Lydia smiled.

"For as long as you'll have me, Lyds"

Lydia pressed her forehead against Allison's temple "then I guess you're going to have to make yourself comfortable"

"I'd like that"

 

"Was that your phone?" Allison asked quietly.

Lydia rolled into Allison's side and hummed.

"Probably" she replied, sighing at the feeling of Allison running her fingers through her hair .

"Do you think you should check it?" 

"I think we should go back to sleep" Lydia smiled "I don't want to move"

Lydia made a point of tangling their legs together and tucking her head against Allison's shoulder. They had made good on Lydia's suggestion and had returned to Lydia's apartment and promptly curled up and fallen asleep on Lydia's bed. She had no intention of moving for anybody who wasn't Allison.

Her phone beeped with another message and Lydia didn't try to suppress a groan of irritation, Allison laughed warmly and rolled away, giving Lydia the space she needed to reach over to grab her phone. Allison sat up, propping herself against Lydia's headboard so Lydia lie back down in her lap.

Allison ran a hand over Lydia's hair as she unlocked her phone, frowning at the two messages she had received.

_From: Stiles_

_Why didn't you tell me you were into Allison the day I told you I liked her?_

_From: Stiles_

_It's pretty shitty that you didn't say anything Lydia_

Lydia's frown deepened and Allison's movements in her hair

"What is it?" She asked

"Stiles" Lydia replied "he's pissed that I didn't tell him that I liked you"

Lydia hit reply.

_To: Stiles_  
_You mean the day you asked me to translate that Latin dragon story? You didn't even tell me her name until Allison walked into the coffee shop that day.  
_ _So it's a bit hypocritical that you think it's shitty I didn't say anything when you wouldn't tell me her name_

_From: Stiles  
_ _I would have backed off if I knew you liked her_

_To: Stiles  
_ _You didn't even back off when she told you she didn't like you!_

_From: Stiles  
_ _What are you talking about?_

_To: Stiles  
_ _She turned you down at the party but you tried to ask her out today!_

_From: Stiles  
_ _I didn't know you were with her!_

_To: Stiles  
_ _That's not the point! She said no to you at the party, no means no Stiles, regardless of if she's single or not_

_From: Stiles  
_ _Are you with her now?_

_To: Stiles  
_ _Yes, I am actually. And you're ruining our lazy date, so I'm going, don't text again Stiles_

Lydia sighed and typed out another text to Scott, telling him to politely talk some sense into his best friend before she places her phone back onto the table.

"Are you okay?" Allison asked.

"He's an asshole" Lydia sighed "but he's still one of my best friends"

"Is he mad about us dating?"

"I think he's just embarrassed, you know how fragile a mans ego is"

Allison hummed but said nothing, her brow was furrowed slightly as she looked down at Lydia.

"What's wrong?" Lydia asked.

"I don't want to be the real reason you guys fight"

Lydia sat up and cupped Allison's face in her hands "We aren't fighting because of you, not exactly"

"But-"

"We're fighting because he's a misogynistic ass who refuses to accept that he's being an ass. You just happened to be the catalyst that brought this all to a head" Lydia leant in to kiss Allison, holding her in place "it's fine Allison, really. Scott's going to talk some sense into him. He'll come around"

"Are you sure?"

"I'm not going to let a temper tantrum from Stiles Stilinski get in the way of my relationship with you" 

Lydia kissed Allison again and pulled away, falling down against the bed and rolling onto her back.

Allison stared at her for a moment and Lydia went to reach up and cup Allison's cheek with her hand but before she could, Allison made a move .

With a sense of speed and ease that Lydia didn't know the girl possessed, Allison moved, rolled onto Lydia, arms braced on either side of her to keep most of her weight off of her and kissing Lydia enthusiastically.

Lydia makes an undignified sound of surprise and leant up into the kiss, her hands tangling into Allison's hair.

They kiss like that for what feels like forever before she pulls Allison's bottom lip between her own, revelling in the sound Allison makes and the way her hips push down into her own, drawing a gasp from Lydia and giving Allison the chance to deepen the kiss.

It's the heaviest make out session they've had so far and Lydia is definitely not complaining. Lydia moves her hands down to Allison's shoulders and pulls her down against her, she's so torn, she doesn't want to stop kissing Allison but she's been meaning to get her lips on that girls neck pretty much since they met

Lydia slips a hand down and under Alison's shirt, sliding along smooth skin and brushing up against Allison's bra.

Allison broke the kiss and pulled her head back and sat up slightly, Lydia pulled her hand away and stared up at Allison.

"Oh- Lydia... I..." She paused, looking unsure "I don't- I'm not..."

Lydia stared up at Allison's expression, the way she was biting her lip out of worry, eyes wide and it took her a few moments to understand what Allison was trying to say.

"Okay" Lydia nodded "We don't have to"

"I just..."

"You don't have to explain yourself Alli, whenever you're ready okay?"

"I'm sorry Lydia..."

Lydia sat up to hold Allison's cheek, stroking her thumb over Allison's jaw "Don't apologise, there's no rush okay? When you're ready okay?"

"I really like you Lydia" Allison sighed "I just don't want you to get sick of waiting"

"Allison, I want a relationship with you, sex isn't the be all end all"

Allison's eyes flashed in relief and she smiled softly. For a moment Lydia thought she was going to say something, watched Allison swallow and wet her lips, she even opened her mouth to speak but clamped it shut almost immediately.

"Thank you Lydia, for understanding"

Lydia sat up and ran her fingers through Allison's hair, untangling the knots as best she can and smiled.

"I do have one request though?" 

"Whatever you want"

Lydia pressed a finger to Allison's neck and trailed it down to her collarbone "I want to give you some hickeys"

Allison beamed "only if I can do the same to you"

"Deal" Lydia replied "Do you want to order food first?" 

Allison laughed and placed a hand on Lydia's shoulder and pressed down until Lydia got with the programme and lay back down against the bed.

"Hickeys first" Allison said as she braced her arms on either side of Lydia's face and settled her weight against Lydia's body "then ordering food" she pressed a gentle kiss to Lydia's lips.

"And then we should talk about your comfort levels okay?" Lydia replied "I don't want to do anything to make you uncomfortable"

Allison smiled and kissed her again and didn't break the kiss for several moments

"Thank you Lydia"

Lydia went to reply, only to be cut short by Allison ducking down and latching onto Lydia's neck, directly over the pulse point and all Lydia could do was fist one hand into Allison's hair because _holy shit._

 

* * *

 

 

Lydia has never seen Derek anywhere other than within the four walls of his coffee shop and she had accepted that. Thinking about it, Lydia is pretty sure they've never exchanged more than the standard pleasantries.

So it's a huge surprise when she walks directly into his cart at the grocery store while she's typing a text out to Allison.

"Sorry" he says.

"It was my fault" Lydia shrugs.

Derek grabs a loaf of bread from the shelf beside him and throws it into the cart. Lydia watches him for a moment before finishing her message to Allison and slipping her phone back into her handbag.

"Well," she says after a few more moments of silence and adjusts her grip on the basket in her hand "have fun, I'll probably see you on Monday"

She barely walks five feet when she hears the cart begin to move.

"Lydia, wait!"

Lydia turns and almost gets hit by the cart again 

"it is Lydia, right?" Derek asks.

"Really? How long have I been coming to your coffee shop? Yes, it's Lydia" she sighed.

"Just checking" he shrugged .

"Yeah, what's up?"

"Are you and Stiles not talking?" He asked.

Lydia frowned, technically, no. She and Stiles weren't taking, they hadn't since their argument via text over a week ago. Scott and Kira were keeping her in the loop though. According to Scott, Stiles was mad because apparently he felt that Lydia had stolen Allison from him or something?

It didn't make sense to Lydia and had only pissed her off so much more- it had pissed Allison off too which had been surprising. That girl was a puppy, anger should not be an emotion she knows.

At least Kira was kicking his ass, hopefully she could kick some sense into him too while she's at it.

"Not that it's really anything to do with you, but no, we aren't, not really" Lydia replied "why?"

"I was just wondering" 

Lydia hummed and checked the time, she needed to finish up here so she could get back to the apartment. She had already promised to cook Allison dinner, she couldn't let Derek hold her up thank you.

"I've heard Stiles talking to Scott and Kira" Derek explains "you're all very loud, you know. It's difficult to ignore you all"

"So you're very clued into our lives then?" Lydia raised an eyebrow "and none of this has anything to do with your crush on Stiles?"

Derek's eyebrows shot up into his hairline in clear shock and it's probably the first time she's seen an emotion other than thinly veiled annoyance on the mans face

"What?" Lydia asked "Did you really think I never noticed? Why haven't you asked him out?"

"He's straight isn't he? He's got a huge crush on your girlfriend"

"Bi, actually. And it's less of a crush and more of a 'betrayal of friendship' at this point" Lydia sighed .

"He's pissed because you started dating her while he liked her"

"Something like that, yeah" Lydia nodded "can we walk and talk? I do have plans you know?"

Derek seemed to get the hint and began to push his cart as they walked together.

"Can I make a suggestion?" Derek asked.

"I feel like you're going to go ahead and suggest it anyway" 

"Let him see the two of you together, let him see you two together"

"And what?" Lydia laughed "he'll see how much I love her and miraculously get over his whiny little issues?"

"Is he that bad?" Derek frowned, he grabbed a box of Mac and cheese from the shelf beside him and threw it into the cart.

"He's very whiny sometimes" Lydia replied "it's whatever" she pauses in thought "I do have an idea though"

"Let's hear it"

Lydia smirked "well, if he had a new... Interest... Then maybe-"

"He'd move on?"

"Precisely. Next time he orders coffee to go, write your number on the cup" 

"That's so..." Derek makes a face and Lydia is instantly reminded of grumpy cat. 

Well that's a comparison she'll never be able to forget.

"Rom-com" they both say together.

"This is the kind of shit I signed up for by opening a coffee shop so close to a college campus" Derek sighed.

"Are you in?" Lydia asked as she pulled out her phone.

"Yeah, I'm in"

"Good" Lydia beamed.

_To: Scott  
_ _Take Stiles for coffee on Monday, make sure you both get coffee to go_

She pocketed her phone and smiled at Derek once more.

"Now if you don't mind, I have groceries to buy and a romantic dinner to cook"

"Have fun"

"Oh and Derek?"

"What?"

"Get a sofa for your coffee shop"

 

* * *

 

 

"Lydia! Allison!" 

Lydia turned to see Scott and Kira approaching them.

"What are you doing here?" Scott asked.

Lydia raised an eyebrow at him "you mean, what are we doing about to walk into this really nice French restaurant? We wanted to ask where they got their place settings. Why do you think we're here Scott?"

Allison burst into laughter and hid her face in Lydia's hair.

"Are you guys on a date too?" She asked once she was composed .

"Yep" Kira beamed.

Lydia looked around the group and felt Allison press a kiss to the crown of her head.

"Impromptu double date?" She suggested.

"We don't want to get in the way" Scott replied.

Lydia glanced at Allison who smiled and nodded encouragingly.

"We don't mind, we always said we should" 

"Then we're in, I want to hear Allison speak French" Kira beamed.

"You have your own date" Lydia replied, pulling Allison against her.

 

She was sure Kira had been joking, but Allison had gone ahead and ordered completely in French.

It was a good thing the waiter actually spoke French otherwise that would have just been awkward on so many levels.

But holy shit Allison speaking French.

She needs to make that happen so much more.

Kira and Scott look equally in awe.

The date in itself is great, Kira and Allison share plenty of stories about gymnastics, Scott and Kira manage to remember every embarrassing story Lydia was involved in

What Lydia really loves is the way Allison smiles that little bit more when she looks at her, the way that when she isn't eating, Allison will have a arm around her shoulders or a hand on her knee.

It's entirely too perfect and Lydia wonders how she got so lucky.

 

"What are you doing this summer?" Allison asked.

"So far? Nothing" Lydia replied "why?"

Allison paused as they reached her building. Neither of them spoke as they made their up to her apartment and it was only when she had begun to make cocoa did she speak again .

"Would you... I don't know... How would you feel about going to France for a week or two?"

"France? A vacation to France?"

Allison nodded and rubbed the back of her neck and handed Lydia her mug

"And... Maybe you could meet my parents?"

Lydia set her mug down on the counter and stared at Allison for a few moments

"You want me to meet your parents?"

"Well it's just, I've never met anyone like you before and you're my best friend and my girlfriend and I..." She cut herself off suddenly.

Lydia stepped forward slowly and put a hand on Allison's hip.

"And you, what, Allison?"

Allison smiled and sighed, reaching up to cup Lydia's face in her hands.

"And I love you"

The thing about Allison, Lydia has noticed, is that she has a tendency to make Lydia fall even harder for her whenever something like this happens, the sudden, out of the blue admissions combined with the way she always looks so nervous until Lydia says something back.

If Lydia has learnt anything at all, it's that nobody can't not love Allison Argent.

Honestly.

It may as well be scientific fact.

That's why Lydia doesn't hesitate to lean up to kiss Allison, feeling the way her fingers slip into her hair while Lydia's hands hold onto her hips.

"I love you too" she replied.

"You do?"

"And I would love to meet your parents"

"They really want to meet you" Allison mumbled against her lips.

Lydia leant against the counter and wrapped her arms around Allison's neck to pull her close, Allison smiled more and kissed her again.

"All I do is talk about you, they have to force me to talk about other stuff" 

"I can't wait to meet them" Lydia replied, kissing along Allison's jaw "I need to meet the people who gave me me the most incredible girlfriend"

"I love you" Allison said.

And okay, it was even better hearing her say it a second time and Lydia is willing to bet that it'll just get better the more she hears Allison say it.

"I love you too Allison"

 

* * *

 

 

"But just let me-"

Lydia cut Allison off and pressed Allison back down into the sofa and added a kiss for good measure.

"You brought the last round. Let me, please?" 

Allison made a small sound of protest and stole another kiss.

"Fine"

"Same again?" 

"Please" Allison flashed her dimpled smile.

Lydia kissed her again and pulled away, grabbing their mugs from the table and walked up to the counter, Derek caught her eye and began to make their drinks, he wasn't kidding when he said he could hear everything.

"So I hear things are going well with you and Stiles" Lydia says, she leans forward against the counter.

"We've been on a few dates" Derek replies "it's going good"

"I'm glad to hear it" Lydia smiled, she looked back over her shoulder to Allison, who looked very at home on the dark leather sofa that had recently found its way into the shop .

"He understands what he did wrong too" Derek adds, he sets Allison's coffee down on the counter and begins work on Lydia's cocoa "he should be coming to apologise to you both"

"What, here?"

Derek nods and turns to face her "he should be here any minute" Derek gestured to the baked goods "you want a couple of brownies? On the house"

"Well since you're offering" Lydia smirked.

She watched Derek grab a plate and place two brownies on it. He set the plate down on on the counter beside the drinks and Lydia handed him the cash for the drinks. As Derek counted out the change he glanced past her at the sofa and Lydia followed his gaze to where Stiles was now sat in the armchair, a respectful distance away from Allison. Allison was sat up now, leaning forward in her seat slightly as they spoke.

She looks at ease though, so Lydia isn't worried.

"I told you" Derek says "he's here to apologise"

Lydia took the change and dropped it back into her purse, she heard Derek moving behind her and looked to see him grabbing two mugs .

"Go over there, he needs to apologise to you too"

Lydia nodded and spent a moment trying to balance two mugs and the brownies before walking back over to the sofa.

"Lydia, hey" Stiles greeted.

"Hey Stiles" Lydia's replied, setting everything down on the table between them, Allison grabbed her hand and pulled her down into the sofa and curled into her side

Stiles stared at them both for a moment, but Lydia was more focused on how Allison had nuzzled into her side and kissed that spot under her ear that made her breath catch.

"So..." Stiles squeezed his hands together "I was just talking to Allison..." He sighs "I'm sorry, for being such an ass the past... Shit, the past couple of months."

Allison turned her head to face Stiles and Lydia felt her hand slip into her own

"When Kira told me that the friend zone didn't exist I didn't believe her, I didn't respect Allison as a human being and then I got unjustifiably mad at you because I thought you had stolen my chances with her away and I'm sorry for that Lydia. I was being... I'm an ass basically"

"You are" Lydia agreed "but you're still one of my best friends so I forgive you"

Stiles smiled and nodded, he looked at Allison and Lydia felt her shrug.

"I was only mad because you made Lydia mad"

Stiles laughed and Lydia turned to press a kiss into Allison's hair.

"Okay, she is so precious and you two are so cute" Stiles sat forward in his seat

Allison mumbled something into Lydia's neck that neither Lydia nor Stiles managed to pick up, Derek chose this moment to place two mugs down and sit in the seat beside Stiles.

"Hey you" Stiles grinned.

"Are you done apologising?" 

"Yep, do I get a reward?" 

Derek pushed one of the mugs closer to Stiles, making the boy frown.

"That's... Not what I meant"

"I know" Derek replied, sipping at his own coffee .

Stiles sighed dramatically "it's a good thing you're attractive" he took a sip of his drink "and you make good coffee"

"So that's why you're dating me" Derek hummed thoughtfully "the levels of my attractiveness and coffee making skills"

"What? Like there's more?" Stiles replies with a teasing smile. He reaches for one of the brownies on the plate and Derek smacked his hand away and Stiles yelped in alarm "what the hell!?"

"They're not for you."

"Well there's no need for violence" Stiles pouted.

Lydia watched the interaction with amusement, she never would have pictured Derek 'grumpy cat' Hale to be the teasing, flirtatious type. But the easy back and fourth banter between them made Lydia irritated at how long it's taken for them to get together. 

Allison nuzzles against Lydia's neck again before pulling away to grab her mug, Lydia mirrors her and reaches for her own and taking a long drink from her cocoa, resulting in getting a large dollop of cream on her nose. Stiles and Derek pause mid argument to stop and stare at her. Allison laughed when she turned to her. Lydia turned to face her only to have Allison wipe it off and cup her chin and kiss her

When Allison pulled away Lydia dipped her finger into the cream and wiped it over Allison's upper lip before she moves in to kiss Allison and cleaning it off.

"See, they get to make out" She hears Stiles say

"Shut up, Stiles"

 

* * *

 

 

The best part of staying over at Allison's (aside from the very cuddly brunette who owns said apartment) is getting to spend whole lazy weekends wearing Allison's old clothes and watching Netflix. Lydia was also incredibly partial to Allison reading to her, the way Allison would sit up against the headboard of the bed, Lydia lying with her head on Allison's stomach while Allison holds the book above her.

It's one of the best ways to start a morning.

Next to lazy morning kisses of course.

Allison was reading one of her stories from her mythology classes, Pandora's box, from what she's gathering, Pandora's box seems to be the Greek equivalent of Eve and the apple. Allison has one hand tangled into Lydia's hair and rubbing gently at the base of her skull. Lydia closed her eyes and let herself get lost.

"You want some breakfast soon?" Allison asked softly, voice pitched low enough to not disturb her.

Lydia opened her eyes and smiled up at Allison, Allison set the book down on the bed and leant down to kiss her .

"I thought you'd fallen asleep" Allison smiled.

"No, never" Lydia replied .

Allison laughed and stroked her hand through Lydia's hair.

"So, breakfast?"

Lydia sat up and kissed Allison again before climbing from the bed.

"You know it's like one in the afternoon right?"

Allison grinned "it's never too late for pancakes Lyds" 

Allison curled a hand around Lydia's wrist and pulled her back onto the bed, kissing Lydia and pulling until Lydia let's Allison arrange her against the pillows.

"You stay, I'll make them"

"But I can make the-" Lydia tries to sit up but Allison just presses her back down to the bed "Allison!" Lydia laughs.

"What?" Allison smiled.

"You spoil me" 

Allison shrugged "Because I love you" she kissed Lydia again "let me make you pancakes" 

Lydia made a sound of protest "fine"

 

Lydia lay there for all of five minutes before she decided that she had had enough and got out of bed again, grabbing one of Allison's hoodies from the back of Allison's chair and zipping it up over the shirt she had also stolen from Allison and wandering out into the kitchen to where Allison is expertly making pancakes.

It's probably the only thing she can make from scratch but holy shit she makes them good.

"I thought I told you to stay in bed" Allison said, she flipped a pancake. 

Lydia sides up behind her and wraps her arms around Allison's waist and resting her chin on Allison's shoulder.

"Why would I stay in bed when you're out here?" 

"Can't argue with that" Allison laughed.

Lydia hummed and kissed her shoulder "Are those chocolate chips?"

"Your favourite" 

"That they are"

Her phone began ringing from somewhere within the apartment and both Lydia and Allison turned towards the source.

"Where did I leave that?"

Allison frowned and twirled the spatula in her hand thoughtfully.

"It's either in your handbag, in your pile of clothes or on my desk"

Option three turned out to be right and Lydia was staring at a missed call and a text from Stiles.

_From: Stiles  
_ _Drinks tonight? Scott and Kira are in. You and Allison up for it?_

"Alli!" Lydia called, walking back out of the bedroom "Stiles wants to know if everyone wants to go for drinks tonight"

"Sounds fun, what time?"

Allison turns back to her, now armed with two plates of pancakes.

"He didn't say" Lydia looked back down at the phone and followed Allison over to the sofa.

"Well, we've got plenty of time to get ready" Allison handed Lydia the plate and stole a kiss as she pulled away.

 

Drinks are fun but damn, they have too much to drink.

It turns out that even Derek isn't immune to the Allison charm and it only takes a drink or two before they're talking like old friends. Turns out they both come from big families and both ventured out of that comfort zone to live their own lives.

Allison and Stiles end up getting into a debate over how much of a douchebag Zeus was.

Derek and Lydia just rolled their eyes at the pair while Scott and Kira looked on in confusion.

It's a good night with too many drinks and too much dancing that leaves Lydia needing Allison to carry her from the cab up to the apartment.

Honestly, it's nothing to complain about.

 

* * *

 

After spending most of the day sleeping, Lydia finally stops feeling like her brain is going to try and break out through her skull and pulls herself away from a still sleeping Allison and drags herself into the shower.

She feels like a new person when she steps out of the bathroom ten minutes later, dressed in more of Allison's clothes (Allison's heart sweater, a new favourite) 

Allison is still asleep and Lydia settles for watching her for a few moments before going out into the kitchen.

Lydia's halfway through making breakfast when she hears the shower running.

When Allison walks out fifteen minutes later Lydia greets her with a long kiss and drags her over to where their (delayed) breakfast is waiting.

The look of surprise on Allison's face makes it all worth it.

 

"Have you read the books?" Allison asked as the credits rolled.

"No, have you?" 

Allison shook her head "I have the first one, but it's just..."

"Effort?" Lydia smirked.

" _So_ much effort!" Allison exclaimed "I'm not Jon Snow, I know what happens!"

Lydia hummed thoughtfully as the next episode began, they had both already seen every episode but a game of thrones marathon after a night of drinking sounded like a good way to spend a Sunday.

She looked over to Allison who was staring at her intently.

"What is it?" Lydia asked.

Allison didn't speak, instead she shifted and Lydia unexpectedly found herself with a lap full of Allison.

"Whoa- what?" 

Allison slipped her fingers into Lydia's hair to guide her up into a kiss. Lydia's hands gripped at Allison's hips, fingers tightening around the material of Allison's shirt.

Allison broke the kiss and stroked her fingers along Lydia's cheekbones.

"I love you" Allison whispered.

"I love you too" Lydia replied.

Allison smiled and kissed her again.

"I'm ready"

Lydia stared up at her for a few moments, brain intent on focusing on everywhere Allison's body was currently touching her own and the way Allison was staring at her .

"Are you sure?"

"Yes" Allison replied, moving in to kiss the spot under Lydia's ear "Are you?"

"Only if you are" 

Allison moved her hands from Lydia's neck and covered Lydia's hands with her own. There was a moments pause where Lydia had to remind herself to breathe. 

And then Allison is smiling and pushing Lydia's hands under her shirt.

"I'm definitely ready"

"Do you want to move this somewhere more comfortable then? I love you Allison but sex with game of thrones serving as background noise isn't really ideal"

Allison laughed and shuffled off of Lydia.

"I like the sound of that" she replied, reaching down to loop her arms around Lydia's waist and lifting her easily off of the sofa, Lydia made a small sound of surprise and wrapped her legs around Allison's waist as Allison kissed her again.

Honestly, the girls strength never failed to surprise her.

Lydia focused on leaving a trail of hickeys along Allison's neck as Allison walked them through the apartment.

Allison lay Lydia down against the bed gently and climbed over her, kissing her even softer.

"Can this come off?" Allison asked.

Lydia sat up and guided Allison's hands to the hem of the sweater and nodded. Allison waited for a moment before lifting the sweater over Lydia's head and dropping it down on the ground beside them. Lydia watched Allison look over her body slowly before leaning in to kiss slowly she deliberately down Lydia's chest.

"Holy shit Allison"

Allison laughs quietly and lifts her head up.

"My turn?" Allison asks, gesturing to her own shirt.

"Your turn" Lydia nods.

Allison complies and Lydia is pulling Allison's shirt over her head and throwing it across the room.

"You're beautiful, you know that right?" Lydia asked.

Allison laughs and ducks her head, Lydia watches her and falls that little harder for the brunette.

"Come here" Lydia mumbles, sliding her hands into Allison's hair and pulling her towards her.

Allison laughed again and kissed Lydia.

 

Lydia stirred and woke slowly, eyes blinking and registering the darkness in the room, she lifted her head and saw sunlight beginning to bleed through the windows, she figured it must be around four or five in the morning and she knows both she and Allison have classes at nine so they should be getting up in the next two hours.

Lydia let her head fall back against Allison's shoulder and draped her arm back over Allison's slowly rising chest and she can feel Allison's heart beating steadily under her palm and Lydia never thought she would ever be lucky enough to find someone like Allison .

Yet here she is, the girl of her dreams sleeping beside her.

Allison makes a small sound and wraps her arm more securely around Lydia's shoulder .

Lydia smiles and closes her eyes, Allison's heart against her palm lulling her back into a peaceful sleep.

Yeah, she's so lucky.

 

"So Allison, you weren't in class today" Stiles sat forward in his seat and Lydia could just tell from the way he was looking that he was eyeing one of the many hickeys she had left.

"Is that a new outfit Lydia?" Kira asked with a smirk.

"We overslept okay?" Lydia replied, grabbing one of the brownies from the plate and taking a bite "by the time we were up, we had already missed the first ten minutes of our classes and Allison lives further away than I do and I borrowed her clothes. Okay?"

Stiles laughed "Shit, you guys must have really gone at it last night"

"Don't be an ass" Derek muttered as he walked past, cupping Stiles around the back of his head.

Allison ducked her head into Lydia's neck and Lydia could feel the heat from the girls skin, Lydia stroked a hand through the girls hair as she glared at Stiles

"Anyway..." Scott began, he paused to smile at Lydia "Do you guys have plans tomorrow night?"

"I'm free" Lydia replied, Allison nodded in agreement.

"Same here"

"Derek?" Scott called.

The man looked up from where he was wiping down a table and glared at them

"Some of us have jobs"

"He said night, idiot" Stiles rolled his eyes "you don't work tomorrow night"

Derek huffed and went back to cleaning tables .

"That means yes in Derek" Stiles says "what are you thinking?"

"Jurassic world has its final showing tomorrow, none of us has seen it"

"This is unacceptable" Stiles gasped.

"An atrocity" Allison mumbled in agreement.

"So, you guys feel like seeing it?" Kira asked.

"Definitely" Allison sat up "dinosaurs"

Lydia laughed and wrapped her arms around Allison and pulled her back against her chest, Lydia rested her chin on Allison's shoulder.

Kira not so subtly grinned at her and Lydia frowned at her.

"You two are cute, okay? Sue me"

"Cuter than me and Derek?" Stiles asked.

"No offence Stiles, but I'm invested in their relationship" Kira held a hand up 

"Seriously, Kira is committed" Scott nodded.

Lydia stopped paying attention around then, too content to just press her face into Allison's hair and just let her friends talk.

At some point she feels Allison's hands cover her arms and Lydia closes her eyes.

 

"What are you doing next weekend?" Lydia asked .

"Nothing, why?" Allison replied, looking down at their hands.

"Well... I was thinking that maybe you and I could drive down and you could maybe meet my mother?"

"I- really?"

Lydia smiled "yeah, really. I haven't seen her for a while and I have know she'll love you too"

It began to rain and Lydia yelped as the freezing water hit her skin.

Allison laughed as Lydia tried to cover her hair with her hands.

Allison dropped Lydia's hand and unzipped her jacket and hoodie.

"I told you it was going to rain today" Allison says, still laughing gently. 

Lydia stares at her as Allison pulls off the clothing.

"Allison-"

"Put them on Lyds, it's okay"

Lydia reluctantly let Allison put the jackets on. Allison pulled the hood up over Lydia's hair and smiled.

"You're gonna get sick" Lydia protested weakly, but she already felt better by having the extra layers.

"Better me than you" she shrugged, grabbing her hand and beginning to walk again

Lydia shook her head slightly at her girlfriend, how she could happily walk down the street in torrential rain in just a t-shirt was beyond her.

It wasn't a surprise that the bus stop was empty, nobody in their right mind would want to wait for a bus in this weather.

Except for them obviously.

There was a tearing sound beside her and Lydia looked to see Allison staring at her, twix bar hanging from her mouth and offering the other to Lydia.

It's so reminiscent of the day they met it hits Lydia right in the chest and she knows that without a doubt, this is the girl Lydia will spend the rest of her life with.

"Can you believe it?" Lydia asked as she took the bar.

"What?" Allison asked.

"This is where it all started, this is _how_ it all started" Lydia waved the twix bar "with a chocolate bar"

Allison laughed and scratched the back of her neck.

"I really wanted to talk to you that day" Allison admitted, Lydia watched her and ate slowly "and then you looked at me and I forgot how to talk and I couldn't stop looking at you..." Allison pushed her hair from her eyes "I can never stop looking at you" she added.

Lydia laughed and stepped forward into Alison's space and Allison reached up to cup her cheek, thumb wiping at the rain that had dripped down Lydia's face.

"Good" Lydia replied "Because I can't stop looking at you either"

Allison brought her other hand up to Lydia's face and smiled, Lydia reached up to push Allison's hair from her face and Lydia knew that somewhere, Kira is probably fist pumping the sky.

"I love you, Lydia"

Lydia leant up to kiss Allison, right there in the rain like some cliché straight out of a fucking rom-com, when they finally broke apart, Allison pressed their foreheads together.

 

"I love you too, Allison"

 


End file.
